[blindlaw] NATIONAL BAR EXAM MUST ALLOW USE OF COMPUTERS WITH SCREEN READING SOFTWARE, Disability Rights on-line News, September 2011

Nightingale, Noel Noel.Nightingale at ed.gov
Fri Dec 9 20:38:58 UTC 2011


>From the most recent newsletter by the U.s. Department of Justice posted on its ADA website.

Link:
http://www.ada.gov/newsltr0911.htm

Text:
NATIONAL BAR EXAM MUST ALLOW USE OF COMPUTERS WITH SCREEN READING SOFTWARE
On July 20, 2011, the Department filed a Statement of Interest in support of the plaintiff in Jones v. National Conference of Bar Examiners, a lawsuit in the federal court in Burlington, Vermont. The plaintiff, who has significant vision disabilities, is a student at Vermont Law School and must pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination to become a member of the Vermont Bar. She sought a preliminary injunction requiring the National Conference of Bar Examiners, which owns the exam, and ACT, Inc., which administers the exam, to allow her to use a computer and the screen reading software she has used throughout law school while taking the exam, along with other accommodations. In its brief, the Department explained that title III of the ADA requires appropriate policy modifications and auxiliary aids to "best ensure" that the exam measures the test-taker's knowledge of professional responsibility issues and not her visual disabilities. On August 2, 2011, the court agreed with the Department's analysis and granted the plaintiff's motion. As a result, the National Conference of Bar Examiners allowed the plaintiff to take the exam on August 5, 2011, with the accomodations she had requested.




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