[blindlaw] Retinitis pigmentosa new law student needs guidance

Elizabeth Rene rene0373 at gmail.com
Sun Aug 19 17:59:51 UTC 2018


Hi Kathy,
Unlike most of the other respondents to your post, I am in the later part of my legal career. I went to law school in the 1970s, in my mid 20s, well before the ADA and in a state that didn’t provide progressive services for would be professionals. My home state kicked in good services toward the middle of my second year. I was born with cone dystrophy, a distant variant of RP, So I think I have some idea of what you may be dealing with visually. My vision hasn’t closed in on me from the outer fields though.

With everything you have going on in a fairly active phase, I think the suggestion that you take a leave of absence isn’t a bad one. I don’t think you should have to withdraw altogether. You could make a good case for taking care of your needs and then coming back, retaining your place in the school. A possibility too is that while doing your rehabilitation training you might learn of an even better law school that provide better services and support. This possibility is heightened because you are now one of our community and have access to everything we know. Because you haven’t had the chance to earn bad grades, and because you are already admitted somewhere, you might stand a much better chance of being accepted elsewhere if that’s what you want to do. You’ll also get the emotional support and philosophical foundation that the NFB provides. I wouldn’t let my age stop me if I were you. What’s the difference between 51 and 52? I say this from being 68.

There is so much more that I would love to say to you and to hear about you. Please feel free to PM me at rene0373 at gmail.com or to phone or text me at 360-970-3594. These are personal contacts, so you don’t have to worry about interrupting a firm. And this invitation goes out to anyone else who wants to contact me.

The adaptive suggestions made by the others are very good as well. You can also get lighted magnifying lenses and white canes for about $25-$50 through Amazon, and I’ve found the best of these so I can tell you about them if you call or write.

Finally, congratulations on getting into law school and congratulations for joining the NFB and this list. You’ve made some great moves and you’ll continue to make more of them. Welcome.

Elizabeth René 

Elizabeth M René 
Attorney at Law 
WSBA #10710 
KCBA #21824
rene0373 at gmail.com 



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