[blindLaw] research and writing

Sat Oct 21 23:03:01 UTC 2023

Based on your description, your legal writing and research courses
appear to be one of the more peculiar ways to impart those skills.
Legal drafting by crossword puzzle does not reflect actual practice,
and it presents unnecessary challenges to blind folks. You must insist
on the following high level points that you should supplement in light
of your specific situation:

•	Linear structure/format to the exercises: Unless you can receive
Excel spreadsheets that are at least minimally formatted and/or tagged
to facilitate accessibility with JAWS, you should not be using
crosswords or puzzles but instead responding to a prompt, working
through a mock law suit, or workshopping actual work product. This is
how I have always taken legal writing and research classes and
seminars.
•	Timely and meaningful feedback: You need to understand in sufficient
detail where you are making mistakes in formatting, style, diction, or
bluebooking, or else you will not improve. A TA or reader (to be paid
for by the school) should work with you to convey feedback if the
crossword-quiz cannot otherwise be presented in a more conventional,
linear format, e.g., locate the issue in the following citation.
•	Adaptations are extra work but nevertheless important: Sometimes the
instructor or TA will have to grade two sets of assignments: yors and
the rest of the class. Good instructors can and will do this because
they recognize that you have to learn differently, e.g., during
college, my professor in formal logic reviewed my materials separately
because I invented an alternate logic code to allow me to use my
Braille Note to complete assignments. The same professor made himself
available during office hours (or otherwise) if I had questions, and
the school provided me a reader for in-class lectures so I could
access the content of the blackboard, which was full of long lines of
logical syntax at the end of the session.
•	Nuanced adaptations: Restructuring the format or assignments must
still instruct you on the skills for you to progress to the next level
but should not present obstacles because the exercises or drills are
premised on having sight. Having sight is fundamentally immaterial to
conducting legal research or producing quality written work product.
The course must be appropriately adapted for you to learn what you
need to know non-visually so you can advance in the spring.
•	Absent the above ideas, the school is wasting your time. You are
paying decent money to be there. The school cannot fail to provide
reasonable accommodations in the course delivery and evaluation and
then fail you for poor performance. Unfortunately, you have to make
sure that the circumstances in the prior sentence do not come to pass.
You should insist that the current course adaptations are inadequate
for your basic goals and that they need to be further refined.

Sincerely,
Nikki

On 10/21/23, Paige via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> To answer everyone’s questions:
>
> 1. I have gone to the disability office, and outside of providing me the
> alternate format assignments, they have been little help.
>
> 2. I’ve considered dropping the class, but the entire research and writing
> department is structured like this! Ugh!
>
> 3. I am using word doc formats of the assignments, but i’m still somehow
> expected to complete the regular assignment as a team, which ends up causing
> my team extra work. I’ve asked to work alone, and do the alternate
> assignments, but my professor won’t allow that.
>
> 5. Asking for the help of the research reps at my school is a great idea,
> thanks!!!
>
> Paige
>
>> On Oct 21, 2023, at 12:38 PM, Sanho Steele-Louchart via BlindLaw
>> <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> Paige:
>>
>> Feel free to text or call to discuss. Happy to troubleshoot. I know
>> there can be any number   of variables.
>>
>> Sanho
>>
>>> On 10/21/23, Christine Busanelli via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>>> wrote:
>>> I had something similar, happened to me during my 1L year, where we were
>>> forced to do an online timed quiz, which was difficult for me to see due
>>> to
>>> my vision disability. I ended up, dropping the class and taking it again
>>> with a different professor who didn’t have such expectations. I did go to
>>> the disability services office at my school and let them know of the
>>> issue.
>>> If you haven’t done that already, speak with the disability
>>> accommodations
>>> department, I recommend that.
>>>
>>> On Sat, Oct 21, 2023 at 12:49 PM Paige via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi!
>>>>
>>>> I’m a 1L who needs tips in research and writing! I also use JAWS.
>>>>
>>>> My class is structured that we do a writing exercise in small teams -
>>>> usually in the form of a timed exercise or game like a puzzle or
>>>> crossword.
>>>> I have been given alternate assignments, but it doesn’t translate well
>>>> to
>>>> group work.
>>>>
>>>> For citations, we do another crossword to unlock a quiz. (I do an
>>>> alternate assignment), and take a quiz in D2L. We have three tries, but
>>>> the
>>>> quiz does not tell you what you specifically did wrong in the citation,
>>>> only that the entire question is wrong. The research portion of the
>>>> class
>>>> has been no better…
>>>>
>>>> I feel like I’m not being given enough feedback in class to learn over
>>>> time, and the group work has only added stress. I’ve voiced my concerns
>>>> to
>>>> my school multiple times to no avail, and I’m nervous, since I have part
>>>> 2
>>>> of the class in the spring - if I pass part 1!
>>>>
>>>> Thanks everyone!!
>>>>
>>>> Paige
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> He/Him
>>
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