[blindLaw] assistance with accommodations for visual formatting in law school.

Mon Nov 4 21:47:56 UTC 2024

Hello,
Thank you. AI tools can help as far as explaining but not for much more. My
original suggestion was to have a reader or student assigned to edit and
assist me also. I want to learn the skills of course, I just would prefer
that I not be graded for them if I'm not being assisted. The idea of a
student or reader was not received well and now that we are at the end of
the semester is when they want to assign one. I've been after them since the
very beginning about solving this. So far I  have not received adequate
support. 
I appreciate your response.
Best,
Natalia Sulca 

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Tai Tomasi via
BlindLaw
Sent: Monday, November 4, 2024 4:35 PM
To: 'Blind Law Mailing List' <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Cc: tai.tomasi8 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [blindLaw] assistance with accommodations for visual formatting
in law school.

Hello. Let me begin by saying that I do not know what recently developed AI
tools might be available to assist with  some portion of this work. I have
not relied on such tools due to confidentiality concerns, and I am not
convinced they can do what you are asking. The JAWS screen reader will
accurately identify these text attributes. Check out the sound schemes in
the JAWS settings. You can turn them on for MS Word so that the font
attributes are indicated using various sounds. You can also edit those sound
schemes and create your own for various attributes. That said, having a
human reader to describe these attributes and proofread what you have
written can be very helpful. I requested assistance from a human reader for
formatting and cite checking when I was editing articles for one of our
school journals. Being able to format your work is a valuable skill and you
will need to master it for preparing briefs, so I recommend that you not
request an exemption. At a minimum, your law school should be able to pair
you with a law student with a workstudy job at the law school to assist you
with this.
Tai

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Natalia Sulca via
BlindLaw
Sent: Monday, November 4, 2024 3:18 PM
To: 'Blind Law Mailing List' <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Natalia Sulca <nssulca at gmail.com>
Subject: [blindLaw] assistance with accommodations for visual formatting in
law school.

Hello All,

I'm reaching out for advice regarding a challenging situation I'm facing
with accommodations in my legal writing course. I am currently a 1l. I've
encountered ongoing issues with my school's unwillingness to exempt me from
visual formatting requirements under the Bluebook, such as font color,
precise alignment, italics versus underlining, and other specific
typographic elements. These requirements are heavily visual, yet they
directly impact my grades, even though I have no way to ensure compliance
independently.

Despite repeatedly requesting and being promised accommodations, my school
has yet to deliver any workable solution. I continue to receive grade
deductions for elements I cannot see or verify, like page numbers, font
colors, and specific visual preferences. My professor prefers certain
Bluebook elements to be underlined rather than italicized, which conflicts
with both the instructions and my ability to format accurately with JAWS
limitations. Points are regularly taken off for such details, significantly
affecting my grades.

I have tried explaining that a screen reader cannot convey visual layout,
font color, or alignment with much accuracy, especially if I assign it one
way and word randomly changes it as its prone to happen. I have also
explained  that dictating these elements to someone else is impractical
since I cannot visually guide or verify the end result. Despite my efforts,
the school has been reluctant to implement a content-only grading approach,
which I believe would be a fair and appropriate solution. This has left me
feeling increasingly frustrated, as my academic performance is being
evaluated on factors that are inaccessible to me as a blind student.

I would be very grateful for any advice on how to approach this situation.
Has anyone on this list encountered a similar issue, and if so, what
strategies or resources were helpful? I want to find a way to advocate
effectively for accommodations that allow my work to be assessed on content
and legal understanding, rather than visual formatting elements that I
cannot independently control.

Thank you all for your time and guidance.

Best regards,
Natalia Sulca

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