[blindlaw] FW: Law Schools Sued by Us

[Nightingale, Noel]

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Prows, Bennett (HHS/OCR)
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 11:48 AM
To: NFB of Washington Talk Mailing List
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Law Schools Sued by Us

Listers,

 

FYI, the below is another example of why the NFB.

 

/s/

 

Bennett Prows

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

 

CONTACT:

 

Chris Danielsen

 

Director of Public Relations 

 

National Federation of the Blind

 

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

 

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

 

cdanielsen at nfb.org  

 

Law Schools Discriminate Against Blind ApplicantsNational Federation of
the Blind Files Suit Against Four California Law Schools 

 

San Francisco, California (June 9, 2010): The National Federation of the
Blind (NFB), the nation's oldest and largest organization of blind
people, and

three blind students who have applied or are considering applying to law
school in California-Deepa Goraya, Bruce J. Sexton, and Claire
Stanley-filed an

amended lawsuit yesterday against the Law School Admissions Council and
four California law schools for violating provisions of the California
Disabled

Persons Act, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the Americans with
Disabilities Act.  The suit was filed because the law schools require or
encourage applicants

to use a centralized Internet-based application process provided by the
Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) through its Web site (

www.lsac.org

) that is inaccessible to blind law school applicants.  Blind students
must seek sighted assistance to use the LSAC system.  Furthermore, blind
law school

applicants cannot perform other tasks on the LSAC Web site, such as
downloading official study materials for the Law School Admissions Test
(LSAT) that

is required by almost all U.S. law schools.  The four law schools are:
University of California Hastings College of the Law, Thomas Jefferson
School of

Law, Whittier Law School, and Chapman University School of Law.   

 

Blind people access Web sites on computers equipped with screen access
software that converts what is on the screen into synthesized speech or
Braille. 

The keyboard is used instead of a mouse to navigate the Web site and
click on selected links or buttons.  If a Web site is improperly coded,
however, blind

computer users cannot access or interact with the site.  The law school
applications available on lsac.org are completely inaccessible to screen
readers,

requiring blind users to resort to sighted assistance in order to
complete their law school applications.  In addition, the practice tests
and preparation

materials for the LSAT are not available in an electronic format that is
accessible to blind computer users.  

 

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
said: "The National Federation of the Blind demands that those who
control admission

to the practice of law obey the law.  For too long, blind people have
experienced barriers to entering the legal profession, despite a long
history of

success and distinguished service by blind attorneys and judges.  The
National Federation of the Blind will not sit quietly while the LSAC
willfully refuses

to provide the same services to blind people seeking admission to law
school that it does to the sighted.  The LSAC is engaging in blatant
discrimination

against the blind and we will not stand for it.  Since all of the
schools named in our amended complaint either require or strongly
encourage applicants

to use the inaccessible LSAC application system, they too are actively
discriminating against blind applicants and we will ask the courts to
hold them

responsible for doing so."   

 

The National Federation of the Blind and Ms. Goraya originally filed
suit against the LSAC for its inaccessible Web site in February of 2009.
The complaint

filed today amends that action.  The National Federation of the Blind
recently filed complaints with the United States Department of Justice
against nine

other law schools across the United States that use the LSAC online
application system.  The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department
is investigating

those complaints.   

 

Plaintiffs are represented in this matter by Daniel F. Goldstein and
Mehgan Sidhu of the Baltimore firm Brown, Goldstein, and Levy; Laurence
W. Paradis,

Anna Levine, and Karla Gilbride of the Berkley firm Disability Rights
Advocates; and Scott C. LaBarre of the Denver firm LaBarre Law Offices.


 

###  

 

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