[blindlaw] Stephanie's Case

Fri Feb 12 00:22:33 UTC 2010

I believe I have told this list before about my experience taking the bar
exam. I was permitted to take the essay portion of my state's bar exam on a
computer, with the questions provided to me in Braille. The multistate was
also provided in Braille but a human reader had to fill in the answers. I
was fine with the Braille copy but had I not been a proficient Braille
reader and if the reader they gave me had been allowed to read to me, I
shudder to think what would have happened. The fellow had only a high school
diploma. He literally told me to call him Bubba. He was forty years old and
still lived with his mom. A couple of times during the essay portion, the
examiners revised the questions slightly; they sent a runner from another
exam site to those of us with disabilities who were taking the exam at the
South Carolina Supreme Court. Bubba had great difficulty reading the
revisions but fortunately I could compare what he told me to the Braille
questions and figure out what had been changed. I was lucky and passed, but
I am still shocked that I had such a poor reader. He was a nice fellow and I
have nothing against him, but no way was he qualified to be a reader for a
blind person taking the bar exam.

Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Sarah Clark
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 4:53 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Stephanie's Case

I don't know if they've allowed others to take the exam on a computer, but I
know one thing.  The next time I take any kind of standardized exam I am
requiring them to either allow me to bring my own reader, or allow me to
take it on a computer with Jaws.
I very recently took a standardized professional exam with a reader that I
was assured by the test administrators could read.  Even after I brought my
concerns about using a human reader to the administrators prior to the exam,
they would not let me bring my own reader, nor would they let me speak to
the reader ahead of time to ensure that the person could read.  As it turns
out, the person could not read.  She was probably the worst "reader" I had
ever met.  The entire exam turned into a disaster and one of the most
horrific experiences of my life.  I will never again trust an organization's
judgement of the quality of the readers they use.  To them, their readers
are all good.  Yet it is a fact that they have taken no concrete measures to
ensure this to be the case. I did pass the exam somehow, but I will never
again allow myself to be put into a situation like that.

Sarah

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
To: "'NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List'" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Stephanie's Case

> I'm not belittling Stephanie's case, but I guess I'm interested in
> something.  I would have preferred to take the LSAT on a computer but took
> it in Braille instead.  Could I have sued LSAC for not making the exam
> available on a computer, or is this a case where other students are 
> allowed
> to take the Bar exam on a computer and Stephanie is not?
>
> Joe Orozco
>
> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Frye, Dan
> Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 11:07 AM
> To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
> Subject: [blindlaw] Stephanie's Case
>
> Colleagues:
>
> I was disappointed to read the following article, indicating that the
> Bar Examiners plan to appeal the recent order in favor of Stephanie. The
> article follows:
>
>
> Bar exam firm appeals blind student's request
>
>
> Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer <mailto:begelko at sfchronicle.com>
>
> Thursday, February 11, 2010
>
> (02-10) 14:04 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- The company that administers the
> California bar exam has asked a federal appeals court to stop a blind
> law student from using computer-assisted reading devices in the test,
> which starts in two weeks.
>
> The company, the nonprofit National Conference of Bar Examiners, filed
> an emergency motion Tuesday asking the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of
> Appeals in San Francisco to suspend a federal judge's order requiring
> the firm to accommodate Stephanie Enyart.
>
> Urgent action is needed, the company said, because Enyart might
> otherwise pass the test with computer assistance that she is not legally
> entitled to receive. Enyart works as a law clerk for Disability Rights
> Advocates in Berkeley and would suffer no hardship by waiting a few
> months for an appeals court to review the case, the company said.
>
> Anna Levine, a Disability Rights Advocates lawyer who represents Enyart,
> called the request "flabbergasting ... irrational and mean-spirited."
>
> Enyart, 32, has been legally blind since 15 from macular degeneration
> and retinal dystrophy. As a UCLA law student, she took tests on a laptop
> with software that magnified the text and read the questions into
> earbuds.
>
> But she has not taken the bar exam because the nonprofit company, which
> administers the two multiple-choice portions of the California test,
> refused to allow the same arrangements.
>
> The company, which uses some of its questions on successive exams, said
> putting the test on a computer disk would expose its content to thieves.
> Its lawyers also argue that disabled students are not entitled to their
> preferred accommodations, only to those that provide reasonable access.
>
> The examiners offered a pencil-and-paper test with questions displayed
> on a large screen, a human reader and twice the usual three-day testing
> period. Enyart said she would become nauseous from having to look at the
> screen and needed the computer setup to have a fair chance of passing.
>
> U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco ordered the
> accommodations Jan. 29 and said the bar examiners could provide their
> own computer for increased security.
>
> The company said in Tuesday's motion that it still faces security risks
> from loading the questions into a laptop and shipping it to California.
> And although Breyer specified that his order applies only to Enyart, the
> company said other visually impaired students might take advantage of
> the ruling to demand their own preferred accommodations.
>
> E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko at sfchronicle.com
> <mailto:begelko at sfchronicle.com> .
>
>
> ***********************
> Daniel B. Frye, J.D.
> Editor
> The Braille Monitor
> National Federation of the Blind
> Office of the President
> 200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
> Baltimore, Maryland 21230
> Telephone: (410) 659-9314 Ext. 2208
> Mobile: (410) 241-7006
> Fax: (410) 685-5653
> Email: DFrye at nfb.org
> Web Address: www.nfb.org <http://www.nfb.org/>
> "Voice of the Nation's Blind"
>
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