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

[garysherwig@hotmail.com]

    too much folks it's Christmas Day
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------ Original message------From: Charles Krugman via blindlawDate: Thu, Dec 25, 2014 6:33 PMTo: Blind Law Mailing List;Subject:Re: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotagedby	DeanandProfessors
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 Paralegal1237 P StreetFresno ca 93721559-266-9237-----Original Message----- From: Michal Nowicki via blindlawSent: Thursday, December 25, 2014 1:03 PMTo: 'Blind Law Mailing List'Subject: Re: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotagedby DeanandProfessorsDear Mr.  Krugman and anyone else who has answers to my questions,I sincerely apologize for sending out this e-mail on Christmas Day, wheneveryone wants to spend time with family and get away from the hustle andbustle of everyday life.  The potential gravity of this issue, however, hascompelled me to waste no time.Mr.  Krugman, could you be more specific about some of the ways in whichgraduate schools try to "mold" certain students into specific roles while"weeding out" others?  For instance, do they force students to take certainclasses, 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 patternsthat trigger/drive such behavior.  For example, does the rank of theprogram/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 encountersuch obstacles.  Are these problems considerably rare, or do they arisefrequently enough that I should be legitimately concerned about them inchoosing which law school to attend?Thank you in advance for your responses, and once again, I apologize if Idisrupted your holidays.Cordially,Michal Nowicki-----Original Message-----From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of CharlesKrugman via blindlawSent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 10:53 PMTo: Blind Law Mailing ListSubject: Re: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotaged byDeanandProfessorsAnita, what seems to have happened to you is very unfortunate but it happensto students in all disciplines of advanced study. I went to college andgraduate school at a time before the ADA and my success depended only onwhat I did or didn't do. In the sixties and seventies as a student I had tomake sure that materials that I needed were readily available and if theyweren't I had to make sure that readers were hired to record them or getthem recorded by volunteers. Later when I made a career change about 15years ago and became a paralegal upon leaving the field of Social work whenattending a community college I saw several students that were weeded out ofthe program in various ways. Law school especially does things to not onlymold students in to certain roles but weeds out those who they feel mightnot make it in the profession. I have discussed with many sighted lawstudents and lawyers the types of things that occurred in law school thatcould be considered to mold the individual in to a certain role. In somecases where I observed this taking place some of the people perhaps shouldfor various reasons not have been in a particular academic program andothers were the victims of harassment or discrimination.Not knowing the specific circumstances of what was done I can only say thatnow that you know what was being done you can only assess the facts of thesituation 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 alsowant to consider the legal remedies that are open to you to address what wasdone to you. This is not an easy situation for someone to be in because ifthey use legal remedies that are open and continue to study in theparticular school in question there could be additional difficulties thatmay occur as a result of taking action. Whatever happens you will need to bevery strong through this period and ask for much support from people who arearound you and who are sympathetic. I hope this helps.Chuck Krugman, MSW Paralegal1237 P StreetFresno ca 93721559-266-9237-----Original Message-----From: Anita Keith-Foust via blindlawSent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 8:26 PMTo: 'Bryan Schulz' ; 'Blind Law Mailing List'Subject: Re: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotaged byDeanandProfessorsWow!-----Original Message-----From: Bryan Schulz [mailto:b.schulz at sbcglobal.net]Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 11:05 PMTo: Anita Keith-Foust; Blind Law Mailing ListSubject: Re: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotaged by DeanandProfessorshi,Your question is not limited to law.In Missouri, the supervisor of a district rehabilitation office forced oneadaptive computing contractor out of business and forced another contractorto return to Florida when clients were assigned to her favored contractorthat was twice as expensive and doesn't even reside in Missouri.The result was loss of income and the first contractor is now seeking othercomputer related employment.Bryan Schulz----- Original Message -----From: "Anita Keith-Foust via blindlaw" To: Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2014 5:30 PMSubject: [blindlaw] How to Cope? - Law Student Sabotaged by DeanandProfessors> 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>>>> _______________________________________________> blindlaw mailing list> blindlaw at nfbnet.org> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for> blindlaw:> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/b.schulz%40sbcgl> obal.net_______________________________________________blindlaw mailing listblindlaw at nfbnet.orghttp://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.orgTo unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info forblindlaw:http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/ckrugman%40sbcglobal.net_______________________________________________blindlaw mailing listblindlaw at nfbnet.orghttp://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.orgTo unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info forblindlaw:http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/mnowicki4%40icloud.com_______________________________________________blindlaw mailing listblindlaw at nfbnet.orghttp://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.orgTo unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for blindlaw:http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/ckrugman%40sbcglobal.net _______________________________________________blindlaw mailing listblindlaw at nfbnet.orghttp://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.orgTo unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for blindlaw:http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/garysherwig%40hotmail.com