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<DIV dir=ltr class=OutlookMessageHeader align=left><FONT size=2
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Freeh, Jessica
[mailto:JFreeh@nfb.org]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, January 05, 2011 4:14
PM<BR><B>To:</B> Alpidio Rolon; Amy Buresh; Angela Wolf; Art Schreiber; Beth
Rival; Bill Packee; Bob Kresmer; Carl Jacobsen; Cassandra McNabb; Cathy Jackson;
Charlene Smyth; Christine G. Hall; Dan Hicks; Daniel Burke; Don Galloway; Donna
Wood; Elsie Dickerson; Frank Lee; Franklin Shiner; Fred Schroeder; Garrick
Scott; Gary Ray; Gary Wunder; Grace Pires; J.W. Smith; James Antonacci; Jennelle
Bichler; Jennifer Dunnam; Joe Ruffalo; John Batron; John Fritz; Joyce Scanlan;
Ken Rollman; Kim Williams; Larry Posont; Lynn Majewski; Mary Willows; Melissa
Riccobono; Michael Barber; Michael Freeman; Mika Pyyhkala; Nani Fife; Pam Allen;
Parnell Diggs; Patti Chang; Rena Smith; Ron Brown; Ron Gardner; Sam Gleese;
Scott LaBarre; Selena Sundling-Crawford; Terry Sheeler<BR><B>Subject:</B>
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Blind Woman's Right to Use Technology to Take
Professional Examinations<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Garamond>
<H1 style="MARGIN: 12pt 0in 3pt"><FONT size=4 face=Arial>FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE</FONT></H1>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">CONTACT:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Chris Danielsen<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Director of Public Relations<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">National Federation of the
Blind<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">(410) 659-9314, extension 2330<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></o:p></P>
<H1 style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 12pt 0in 3pt" align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=4>Federal Appeals Court
Upholds Blind Woman’s Right<BR><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>to
Use Technology to Take Professional
Examinations<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></H1>
<H2 style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 12pt 0in 3pt" align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><EM><FONT face=Arial>National Federation of the Blind
Applauds Ruling<o:p></o:p></FONT></EM></SPAN></H2>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Baltimore,
Maryland (January 5, 2011):</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> The
National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the oldest and largest nationwide
organization of blind people, today applauded a federal appellate court ruling
affirming the right of a blind California woman to use screen access technology
to take professional examinations required for her to receive a license to
practice law.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The ruling, handed
down yesterday by a unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, upheld preliminary injunctions granted
by a federal district court requiring the National Conference of Bar Examiners
(NCBE) to provide electronic copies of its legal examinations to Stephanie
Enyart so that she could read the questions with text-to-speech and
magnification software.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The NCBE
had appealed the injunctions, arguing that the law did not require it to provide
electronic copies of the examinations and that Enyart must choose from the menu
of accommodations it was willing to provide.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of
the Blind, said: “The National Federation of the Blind welcomes this ruling,
which means that testing agencies must afford the accommodations and auxiliary
aids that are most likely to level the playing field for the blind and other
test takers with disabilities.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The
court made it clear that law and equity simply do not permit the NCBE to dictate
a one-size-fits-all solution for all bar candidates with disabilities.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The ruling stands solidly for the
principle that the NCBE and all testing organizations must consider the
individual needs of each examination candidate and that accommodation policies
must change as access technology continues to improve.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is our sincere hope that the NCBE
will change its rigid and outdated </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">accommodation policies to reflect the letter and
spirit of this ruling, and that other entities that administer educational and
professional examinations will take note and do likewise.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The National Federation of the Blind
stands ready to fight for the rights of blind students and aspiring
professionals and to make sure that this ruling is faithfully
followed.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">According to the ruling, Ms. Enyart established that
screen reader software, which speaks text on the screen out loud and/or
magnifies it visually, is her primary reading method and the way she took most
of her law school examinations.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The
court upheld the validity of a Department of Justice regulation, promulgated
pursuant to Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), requiring
that “the examination is selected and administered so as to best ensure that
when the examination is administered to an individual with a disability . . .
the examination results accurately reflect the individual’s aptitude or
achievement level . . . rather than reflecting the individual’s
[disability].” <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The judges rejected the argument of the NCBE that the
court should invalidate the regulation and rule that NCBE need only provide a
reasonable accommodation, pointing out that “reasonable accommodation” is not
any part of Title III of the ADA, which applies to testing entities, but is only
a concept applicable to Title I of the same law, relating to employment.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>While the court acknowledged that Ms.
Enyart had taken prior examinations with a human reader, it ruled that this
prior history was relevant, but not conclusive, and added: “Moreover, assistive
technology is not frozen in time: as technology advances, testing
accommodations should advance as well.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The court concluded that denying a preliminary
injunction would have likely caused Ms. Enyart irreparable harm because having
to take the examinations under discriminatory conditions would likely cause her
to fail and therefore to lose the chance to pursue her chosen profession.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Even a delay in her career, the
court said, is “productive time irretrievably lost.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The plaintiff is represented with the support of the
National Federation of the Blind by Scott C. LaBarre of LaBarre Law Offices,
P.C., of <st1:City w:st="on">Denver</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Colorado</st1:State>; Daniel F. Goldstein of Brown, Goldstein &
Levy, LLP, of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Baltimore</st1:City>,
<st1:State w:st="on">Maryland</st1:State></st1:place>; and Larry Paradis of
Disability Rights Advocates of Berkeley, California.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #333333"><BR><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">###<o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">About the
National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">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 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The NFB improves blind people's lives
through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs encouraging
independence and self-confidence.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the
nation's blind.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In January 2004 the
NFB opened the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first
research and training center in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place> for the blind led by
the blind.</SPAN></P></FONT></DIV>
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