[blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotaged by DeanandProfessors

Thu Dec 25 23:15:29 UTC 2014

Dear Michal:

Those are excellent questions.

The school that is the topic of my inquiry is a historically African
American university, North Carolina Central University (NCCU). It is not top
ranked like Yale, Harvard, or Duke.

The fact that it is a historically African American university would make me
think that the faculty would be sensitive enough to not discriminate and
follow the law. 

As I think about the dilemma that we all face as blind and visually impaired
students, we probably need to start a database of substantiated instances of
discrimination at all colleges and universities. There is more than one
instance of visually challenged students not being accommodated at NCCU.
Right now, I feel like I am extremely vulnerable to saboteurs because I am
not informed as to which schools have a substantiated history of
discriminating against visually challenged students.

I am to the point that, although I am preparing for the LSAT, I am
considering Concord Law School. Concord is an online law school. The reason
that I am considering this school, although it is not ABA approved, is that
I can work from the comfort of my home with the proper software and
equipment. This means that I will be accommodated. Also, they do have a
department that deals with accessibility issues. I have already submitted my
documentation for accommodations, extended time and etc., and they have
agreed to these accommodations.  I only need to take their entrance exam.
Since I preparing for the June LSAT, I will take their entrance exam after
June. One concern that I have about Concord is, I can only sit for the
California Bar.

Concord does have a link that shows one of their graduates, who passed the
California Bar, challenging the bar in the state he lives in to sit for that
bar. He won his case and was able to sit for his state's bar.

At any rate, I am eager to hear answers to your questions.

Sincerely,

Anita Keith-Foust
919-430-1978

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Michal
Nowicki via blindlaw
Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2014 4:03 PM
To: 'Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotaged by
DeanandProfessors

Dear Mr.  Krugman and anyone else who has answers to my questions,

I sincerely apologize for sending out this e-mail on Christmas Day, when
everyone wants to spend time with family and get away from the hustle and
bustle of everyday life.  The potential gravity of this issue, however, has
compelled me to waste no time.

Mr.  Krugman, could you be more specific about some of the ways in which
graduate schools try to "mold" certain students into specific roles while
"weeding out" others?  For instance, do they force students to take certain
classes, and if so, what methods do they employ to achieve their objectives?

I would also like to know if anyone on this list is aware of any patterns
that trigger/drive such behavior.  For example, does the rank of the
program/school affect the likelihood that such incidents will occur?  If so,
should we watch out more for top-ranked universities or lower-ranked once?
What about public vs.  private schools?

Finally, please tell me how frequently blind graduate students encounter
such obstacles.  Are these problems considerably rare, or do they arise
frequently enough that I should be legitimately concerned about them in
choosing which law school to attend?

Thank you in advance for your responses, and once again, I apologize if I
disrupted your holidays.

Cordially,

Michal Nowicki

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Charles
Krugman via blindlaw
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 10:53 PM
To: Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotaged by
DeanandProfessors

Anita, what seems to have happened to you is very unfortunate but it happens
to students in all disciplines of advanced study. I went to college and
graduate school at a time before the ADA and my success depended only on
what I did or didn't do. In the sixties and seventies as a student I had to
make sure that materials that I needed were readily available and if they
weren't I had to make sure that readers were hired to record them or get
them recorded by volunteers. Later when I made a career change about 15
years ago and became a paralegal upon leaving the field of Social work when
attending a community college I saw several students that were weeded out of
the program in various ways. Law school especially does things to not only
mold students in to certain roles but weeds out those who they feel might
not make it in the profession. I have discussed with many sighted law
students and lawyers the types of things that occurred in law school that
could be considered to mold the individual in to a certain role. In some
cases where I observed this taking place some of the people perhaps should
for various reasons not have been in a particular academic program and
others were the victims of harassment or discrimination.
Not knowing the specific circumstances of what was done I can only say that
now that you know what was being done you can only assess the facts of the
situation as well as how this impacts your desire to continue to study law. 
You may want to consider transferring to another law school and you may also
want to consider the legal remedies that are open to you to address what was
done to you. This is not an easy situation for someone to be in because if
they use legal remedies that are open and continue to study in the
particular school in question there could be additional difficulties that
may occur as a result of taking action. Whatever happens you will need to be
very strong through this period and ask for much support from people who are
around you and who are sympathetic. I hope this helps.
Chuck Krugman, MSW Paralegal
1237 P Street
Fresno ca 93721
559-266-9237

-----Original Message-----
From: Anita Keith-Foust via blindlaw
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 8:26 PM
To: 'Bryan Schulz' ; 'Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotaged by
DeanandProfessors

Wow!

-----Original Message-----
From: Bryan Schulz [mailto:b.schulz at sbcglobal.net]
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 11:05 PM
To: Anita Keith-Foust; Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotaged by Dean
andProfessors

hi,

Your question is not limited to law.
In Missouri, the supervisor of a district rehabilitation office forced one
adaptive computing contractor out of business and forced another contractor
to return to Florida when clients were assigned to her favored contractor
that was twice as expensive and doesn't even reside in Missouri.
The result was loss of income and the first contractor is now seeking other
computer related employment.
Bryan Schulz

----- Original Message -----
From: "Anita Keith-Foust via blindlaw" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
To: <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 5:30 PM
Subject: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotaged by Dean
andProfessors

> Happy Holidays Everyone!
>
>
>
> I have recently come across information that a particular law school's 
> dean and other faculty members secretly conspired to "encourage" a 
> visually impaired student not to complete law school. They actually 
> put the conspiracy in writing among themselves via email!
>
>
>
> They do not come straight out to the visually impaired student and say 
> that they are going to violate the Americans with Disability Act. Nor 
> do they say they will intentionally ignore the agreed upon 
> accommodations. The tactics they used include making it difficult by 
> refusing to put the documents in the right format, not giving the 
> documents (PowerPoints, etc.) in a timely fashion, and generally 
> refusing to follow the accommodations agreed upon.
> By
> the time the visually impaired student documents and files complaints, 
> they are behind in class. That is part of the plan to convince the 
> student that law school is not for them.
>
>
>
> Have you encountered this problem? If so, how did you deal with it?
>
>
>
> I also would like to know about the experiences of visually impaired 
> and blind students who successfully completed law school. For example, 
> did the professors follow the agreed upon accommodations? Where your 
> classes stationary, i.e., in the same classroom all day?
>
>
>
> I would like to know how blind and low vision law students cope with 
> the first year of law school when sabotage is  the plan of the deans 
> and professors.
>
>
>
> What have your experiences been like?
>
>
>
> Thank you.
>
>
>
> Anita Keith-Foust
>
> 919-430-1978
>
>
>
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