[blindlaw] Timing of Exams

Angie Matney angie.matney at gmail.com
Thu Dec 8 18:23:51 UTC 2016


Some good points. But the school wouldn't be obligated to accommodate a job, just the person's disability. Certainly, one would hope a school would take concerns such as lost wages into account when ossible, they are not legally obligated to take a work schedule into consideration. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 8, 2016, at 12:33 PM, Sai via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I think my reading of the situation is a little different than yours,
> and that's what's causing the difference of opinion, rather than a
> disagreement about the principles.
> 
> So in the spirit of law school testing (smile), here's my summary of
> the material facts:
> 
> The poster would be happy to take the exam at the ordinary time given
> to all other students. However, the school is requiring them to take
> it at an earlier time than everyone else, solely because they
> requested accommodations.
> 
> Previously, when the test couldn't be accommodated at the same time as
> everyone else, they took it the next day instead, which was fine with
> everyone.
> 
> I'm assuming that the earlier time is significant enough to be a
> substantial harm in some way that's unrelated to disability (they
> haven't said how much earlier it is).
> 
> If I'm wrong about any of that, my argument doesn't hold.
> 
> In particular, I think something significant I'm interpreting
> differently than others is that the poster is not per se requesting to
> take it later than everyone else. They'd be fine to take it at the
> normal time, but the school won't let them do that, so it's a forced
> choice between earlier or later.
> 
> 
> So, suppose a more extreme version: what if the school were to say
> that they will only give accommodated testing a full week before
> everyone else's test? Surely that is obviously improper; they can't
> force test takers to have less time to study merely because of a need
> for unrelated accommodations.
> 
> Or suppose the poster has a 9-5 job, the normal test is at 6pm, and
> the school wants to only offer accommodated testing at 3pm. That
> wouldn't really affect study time, but it could easily harm the job,
> resulting in lost wages or other problems.
> 
> I don't think it's *categorically* illegal for an accommodated test to
> be given earlier. As Laura said, starting a test earlier could easily
> be part of a reasonable negotiation, e.g. to avoid it going too late.
> 
> If it's a minor amount that doesn't impair other things, then I don't
> see a problem with it. I was assuming it's earlier enough to pose some
> sort of significant problem, because otherwise the poster wouldn't
> have complained about it.
> 
> 
> FWIW, LSAC's accommodated testing policy is that accommodated tests
> are all either at the same time as everyone else, or shortly after. I
> think that's true of everything else I've heard of. It was true for my
> own accommodations in grad school.
> 
> I'm not aware of any case law either way on this, but I've only done a
> quick search in google scholar, and this is hardly an area of
> expertise. If any of you know of similar case law either way I'd be
> interested to read it.
> 
> - Sai
> 
> On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 11:11 AM, Shelley Richards via BlindLaw
> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Can they give the exam at a different time? Yes they could, but if you
>> are asking whether or not they are obligated to do so, well that is
>> different.  They would not be obligated to do so unless it were
>> determined that taking the exam at a different time is a reasonable
>> accomidation related to your disability.  My college offered students
>> the opportunity to take exams at different times with a written
>> request which needed approval, and in that case a disabled student
>> would be held to the same standards as any other student seaking such
>> approval.  However, if you are asking to take the exam at a different
>> time as an accomidation for your disability then the school needs to
>> determine whether or not the request is a reasonable accomidation.  My
>> law school never allowed me to take exams on different days, but for
>> night classes where the exam started at 6 PM they allowed me to start
>> early, and my allotted time would end at the same time as everybody
>> else.  They did not not want to ask either me or a proctor to stay
>> that late into the night so starting early was the preferred solution.
>> The concern they are generally weighing against your request is that,
>> if you take the exam early you now know the questions and could let
>> others know what they are intentionally or not, or if you take the
>> exam late then there are a number of other students who know the
>> questions and chances are even higher that someone might,
>> intentionally or not, let you know what the questions are.  Think
>> about it, the school has to not only trust that all of the other
>> people in the class will keep the questions from you, but they also
>> have to trust that you will not happen to overhear a conversation
>> about the exam between other students which may give you some or all
>> information about 1 or more questions.  Even if you have absolutely no
>> bad intentions, it is hard to be able to guarantee you will not
>> accidentally overhear others talking about an exam which you have not
>> taken yet.  This is not to say a school should never allow a student
>> to take an exam later, but there is a very legitimate concern which
>> they need to weigh against the reasonableness of the request.  They
>> could have problems if you are given an advantage just as much as they
>> could have problems if they put you at a disadvantage.  It looks like
>> it may be to late for this exam, but next time I would talk to them
>> about how exactly taking the exam at the scheduled time would put you
>> at a disadvantage, for example you would be testing until an
>> unreasonable hour of the night, and do your best to work out a
>> solution while making it clear that you understand their concerns
>> about you now being given an advantage over other students.
>> Some schools will always be more and less strict about their exam
>> policies, and they all have the right to be as strict or lax as they
>> choose as long as they treat all students the same way with regard to
>> exam policy.  If you are at a school which is more strict about
>> enforcing exam policy with no acception then you are going to need to
>> make it much clearer to them why the accomidation is a reasonable
>> request related to your disability.  A more relaxed school may not
>> care as much about other concerns, but neither school would be
>> violating the law so long as they provide enough accomidation to
>> create an equal playing field, and treat disabled students the same as
>> other students when being more or less strict about enforcement of the
>> exam policy.
>> 
>>> On 12/8/16, Aimee Harwood via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Hello Sai,
>>> 
>>> That does not suffice in their opinion.
>>> 
>>> Aimee
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>>> On Dec 7, 2016, at 3:44 PM, Sai via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Isn't "I want to have as much time to study as everyone else" a good
>>>> enough reason?
>>>> 
>>>> - Sai
>>>> 
>>>> On Wed, Dec 7, 2016 at 2:56 PM, Jim McCarthy via BlindLaw
>>>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>>> I think the issue becomes what is the disability-related reason that you
>>>>> request the earlier exam? It seems possible to me that law students may
>>>>> check in electronically and check out the same way when finished. If you
>>>>> need to pick up the exam from a staff person and return it to a staffer,
>>>>> One
>>>>> argument seems to be that if you get double time on an exam that starts
>>>>> at
>>>>> 6:00 pm and normal is 3 hours, you get 6, which means that you turn the
>>>>> exam
>>>>> in at midnight. Otherwise, it probably has to be some kind of fatigue
>>>>> argument connecting to blindness and or other documented disabilities.
>>>>> Jim McCarthy
>>>>> 
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: BlindLaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Aimee
>>>>> Harwood via BlindLaw
>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2016 2:07 PM
>>>>> To: BlindLaw
>>>>> Cc: Aimee Harwood
>>>>> Subject: [blindlaw] Timing of Exams
>>>>> 
>>>>> Hello everyone,
>>>>> 
>>>>> I have a question regarding exams. Are universities allowed to schedule
>>>>> an
>>>>> accommodated exam earlier than the rest of the class? One of my exams is
>>>>> a
>>>>> night class. The rest of the class will take their exam at 6:00 PM. Over
>>>>> the
>>>>> summer, I also took an evening class and the exam started at 6:00 PM as
>>>>> well. I was given the option to take the exam early or the following
>>>>> business day. I chose the following business day. I requested the same
>>>>> for
>>>>> this exam and was denied. The reason given was that they do not remember
>>>>> why
>>>>> they gave those options for that particular exam and that it did not
>>>>> apply
>>>>> to any other exam.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Aimee
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
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>>>>> 
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>>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Thank You
>> Shelley Palmadessa
>> shelleyrichards9 at gmail.com
>> 
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> 
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