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

Sun Nov 17 02:12:43 UTC 2024

I echo everything here. You have to keep advocating for a reader or else a
3L who can work with you for you to learn formatting and citations. JAWS
and a Braille display go pretty far. However, you should have a sighted
individual look over documents before they go to a formal setting, like
court!

A reader is a very standard accommodation, though many academic settings
and employers struggle with the idea. It is expensive and a deeply foreign
notion to how most people practice law. That being said, the quality of the
work product should pay for a qualified reader over time. I know it is
frustrating until you have access to a reader. You are paying good money to
attend law school. They have to provide you both the education and the
reasonable accommodation.

On Mon, Nov 4, 2024 at 5:03 PM Tai Tomasi via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> I encountered similar resistance and my grades suffered. I encourage you to
> insist upon the accommodations you need. Those should not include a request
> to be exempted. Exemption might do you a great disservice in your law
> school
> summer employment, and perhaps your future career.
> Tai
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlindLaw <blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Natalia Sulca
> via
> BlindLaw
> Sent: Monday, November 4, 2024 3:48 PM
> To: 'Blind Law Mailing List' <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Natalia Sulca <nssulca at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [blindLaw] assistance with accommodations for visual
> formatting
> in law school.
>
> 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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