[blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotagedby DeanandProfessors

Thu Dec 25 23:33:21 UTC 2014

Hi Mitchell,
I don't have detailed statistics but perhaps others who have experiences 
with dealing with graduate or law schools can respond. In my experience 
based on what I've observed the process is more subtle and I don't think 
that it is of systemic proportions. In many instances it seems to occur 
where a faculty member or in cases where a dissertation is required that a 
review committee chair has biases or dislikes against a certain candidate. I 
would not be overly concerned but I think that the best way to potentially 
remedy a potential problem is for any student to take a proactive approach 
in dealing with how they solve problems that may arise. While accommodations 
may be provided by a law school as a result of Section 504 or the ADA be 
prepared to have a contingency plan if something falls through. Consider 
that eventually as an attorney especially if in private practice or working 
for a small firm that you might not have the degree of support services 
available to you to remediate assistance that you will need as a result of a 
disability. While other students in most cases be willing to be helpful 
don't abuse the offers of help by taking them for granted and expecting them 
to always be forthcoming. Law school as in many advanced degree programs is 
highly competitive and unfortunately there are some people that will carry 
this to an excess. I hope this helps.
Chuck Krugman, MSW Paralegal
1237 P Street
Fresno ca 93721
559-266-9237

-----Original Message----- 
From: Michal Nowicki via blindlaw
Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2014 1:03 PM
To: 'Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotagedby 
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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