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<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size=4><b>FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE<br><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size=5> <br><br>
</font><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">CONTACT:<br><br>
</b>Chris Danielsen<br><br>
Director of Public Relations<br><br>
National Federation of the Blind<br><br>
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330<br><br>
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<br><br>
<a href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</a><br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
</font><div align="center"><h1><b>Law Schools Discriminate Against Blind
Applicants<br><br>
<br><br>
</b></h1></div>
<h2><b>National Federation of the Blind Files Complaints Against Nine Law
Schools</b></h2><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size=5> <br><br>
</font><b>Baltimore, Maryland (May 5, 2010):</b> The National Federation
of the Blind (NFB), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of blind
people, announced today that it has filed complaints with the United
States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, requesting
investigations of nine prominent law schools for violating the civil
rights of blind and other print-disabled law school applicants. The
NFB filed the complaints because the law schools require applicants who
wish to have the convenience of applying online to use a centralized
Internet-based application process provided by the Law School Admissions
Council (LSAC) through its Web site
(<a href="http://www.lsac.org/" eudora="autourl">www.lsac.org</a>) that
is inaccessible to blind law school applicants. While sighted law
school applicants can use the LSAC system to submit multiple law school
applications at once, blind students must seek sighted assistance to use
the LSAC system. Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act
requires these law schools to offer equal access to their programs and
services. The nine law schools named in the complaints are The
University of Chicago Law School, Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N.
Cardozo School of Law, Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, University of
Denver’s Sturm College of Law, Washington and Lee University School of
Law, University of Miami School of Law, William Mitchell College of Law,
Gonzaga University School of Law, and Northeastern University School of
Law. The complaints ask the Justice Department to require these law
schools to suspend use of the LSAC application system until it is
accessible to blind and other print-disabled students and to require each
law school to provide the same application process in a format available
to all students. The NFB already has a lawsuit pending against the LSAC
for violating <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />California
law by maintaining an inaccessible Web site.<br><br>
<br><br>
Blind people access Web sites on computers equipped with screen access
software that converts what is on the screen into synthesized speech or
Braille. The keyboard is used instead of a mouse to navigate the
Web site and click on selected links or buttons. If a <br><br>
Web site is improperly coded, however, blind computer users cannot access
or interact with the site. The LSAC application process does not
present information to screen access software and thus requires blind
users to resort to sighted assistance. <br><br>
<br><br>
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
“The National Federation of the Blind expects those who control admission
to the practice of law to obey the law. Forcing blind law school
applicants to use a separate and inherently unequal application process
violates both the letter and the spirit of the Americans with
Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Accessibility
standards for Web-based forms like those used in the Law School
Admissions Council’s application system have been in place for years and
have been successfully implemented by many other Web sites, so there is
no reason why the LSAC cannot make its application service available to
blind law school applicants. That is why we have asked the United
States Department of Justice to act swiftly and decisively to ensure that
blind law school applicants are treated the same as their sighted
peers.”<br><br>
<br><br>
The National Federation of the Blind is represented in this matter by
Daniel F. Goldstein and Mehgan Sidhu of the Baltimore firm Brown,
Goldstein, and Levy; Laurence W. Paradis, Anna Levine, and Karla Gilbride
of the Berkley firm Disability Rights Advocates; and Scott C. LaBarre of
the Denver firm LaBarre Law Offices.<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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</b></div>
<br><br>
<br><br>
<b>About the National Federation of the Blind<br><br>
</b>With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind
is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind
people in the United States. The NFB improves blind people’s lives
through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs
encouraging independence and self-confidence. It is the leading
force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's
blind. In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of
the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in
the United States for the blind led by the blind. <br><br>
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