[blindlaw] ExamSoft Update

[Paul Wick]

Elizabeth,

Seems to me like a little bit of overkill at least in my experience
(though admittedly not with Washington), the California Bar allowed me
to use my own laptop with all programs still installed; I simply had
to remove any word, pdf or other data files. The bar's computer tech
then checked my hard drive at the end of every exam session.

Yours,

Paul

On 6/29/12, Susan Kelly <Susan.Kelly at pima.gov> wrote:
> Good luck, Elizabeth!  And I totally agree with you - in this day and
> age, when computer / programming experts are (or should be) well aware
> of screen magnification and narration programs, NOTHING should be
> released that Is not compliant.  Just my humble opinion, but it truly
> does not seem to be too much to ask.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> On Behalf Of Elizabeth Rene
> Sent: Friday, June 29, 2012 9:46 AM
> To: blindlaw at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [blindlaw] ExamSoft Update
>
> Thank you all for your comments on ExamSoft and what your bar
> associations and the NCBE have done re your bar exam accommodations.
>
> Here's my take on this subject.
>
> First, I talked with a tech support person from ExamSoft and found, at
> least from him, that none of their tech support people know anything
> about accessibility.  Their software developers didn't build it into the
> program.
> This guy did know about JAWS and VoiceOver independently, though.  He
> couldn't tell me whether VoiceOver would work with ExamSoft, though
> Apple is encouraging companies who develop software for OSX to make
> VoiceOver compatibility part of their package.
>
> I do expect to be exempted from using ExamSoft, though I haven't gotten
> the official word yet.
>
> But my question is this:  Why are a majority of state court systems, bar
> associations, and law schools contracting with a company noncompliant
> with the ADA more than two decades after its adoption, and nearly 40
> years after the adoption of Section 504?
>
> Should we blind professionals keep on accepting the status of
> supplicants, forever seeking exemptions and special conditions under
> which to take our qualifying exams and do our jobs when universally
> accessible technology could make that unnecessary?
>
> Should the courts, the agencies who define and regulate our profession,
> and the schools who train us not be held accountable to uphold the laws
> they teach and interpret?
>
> My view is that ExamSoft, and those who fail to hold it accountable,
> should be called on the carpet.  The argument, "we exempt our blind
> students from using ExamSoft," should go the way of "You don't need your
> cane/guide dog, we have someone here to lead you."
>
> What gives me standing to rant?
>
> The bar exam security policy.
>
> ExamSoft is designed to segregate the bar exam from everything else on a
> laptop so there's no question of a student's cheating.  That too is why
> examinees have to undergo a near strip-search before entering the test
> site.
> You leave your laqp top case outside and carry in your bare necessities
> in a quart-sized plastic bag, just as though you were facing a TSA
> inspection.
>
> Any non-ExamSoft accommodation has to meet security policy requirements.
>
> One's own laptop, full of bar exam materials, doesn't do that.
>
> So, in my pre-exam anxiety, I envision showing up at a
> previously-undisclosed testing site and offered the use of an unfamiliar
> computer, running an operating system I haven't used yet, with JAWS
> configured by someone else, and with no time to tweak it.  Yes, I admit
> to pre-exam jitters.
>
> I could go to a library and learn Windows 7 and JAWS 13 (I use JAWS 10
> on Windows XP), but who has time to do that during the bar review?
>
> This is what I've done, for what it's worth.  I've gone out and bought
> an Apple iBook with a big hard drive and VoiceOver, which I love.  I'm
> putting iWork on it to write the exam, and nowhere on the drive will
> there be any bar review material.  Later, after the exam, I'm putting
> Windows 7 and JAWS on a corner of that big hard drive, I'm going to
> learn them both at home, and live in the best of both worlds of
> accessibility.
>
> Armed with my own laptop and a word program I've had time to practice
> using writing bar prep essays, I hope to ace that exam.  And if I fall
> on my face, I'll get up and do it again.
>
> Wish me luck!
>
> Elizabeth
>
>
>
>
>
>
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