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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:13.5pt;
font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:bold'>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Helvetica;font-weight:bold'>CONTACT:<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Helvetica'>Chris Danielsen <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Helvetica'>Director of Public Relations<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Helvetica'>National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Helvetica'>(410) 659-9314<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Helvetica'>(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><a href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org"><font face=Helvetica><span
style='font-family:Helvetica'>cdanielsen@nfb.org</span></font></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Helvetica'>Anna Levine<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Helvetica><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Helvetica'>Disability Rights Advocates<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>(510) 665-8644 </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=4
face=Arial><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Federal
Judge Issues Permanent Legal Resolution for <u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:PlaceName u2:st="on">Blind</u1:PlaceName>
<u1:PlaceName u2:st="on">Law</u1:PlaceName> <u1:PlaceType u2:st="on">School</u1:PlaceType></u1:place>
Graduate<br>
Who Paved the Way for Blind Test Takers<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Berkeley, California (October 26, 2011):</span></font></b><font
face=Arial><span style='font-family:Arial'> On Monday, October 24, the
Honorable Judge Charles R. Breyer ended a two-year legal battle between a blind
law school graduate and a national testing corporation over the
graduate’s right to use a computer equipped with assistive technology to
take the California Bar Exam. Granting Stephanie Enyart’s motion
for summary judgment, Judge Breyer found that Ms. Enyart is entitled to take
the bar exam on a computer equipped with text-to-speech screen reading and
visual screen magnification software, as the method that will best ensure that
she is tested on her aptitude rather than her disability. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Stephanie Enyart, who graduated from UCLA School of Law in
2009 and first sought to take the bar exam that same year, was forced into
court by the refusal of the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) to
allow her to take the bar exam using her primary reading method, a computer
equipped with screen reading and screen magnifying software. Ms. Enyart,
who became blind in her early adulthood as a result of macular degeneration,
has relied on screen reading and screen magnifying technology to read since
college, through law school, and in her professional career. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Although Ms. Enyart won a preliminary injunction in early
2010, ordering NCBE to provide her requested accommodations, the case has
remained in court for almost two years, as NCBE unsuccessfully challenged the
district court’s preliminary injunction order first to the <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and then to the <u1:country-region u2:st="on"><u1:place u2:st="on">United
States</u1:place></u1:country-region> Supreme Court. NCBE argued that it
fulfilled its legal obligations to Ms. Enyart by offering accommodations such
as Braille or a human reader—notwithstanding evidence that these
alternatives do not work well for Ms. Enyart. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The courts resoundingly rejected that argument, holding that
licensing examinations must be administered to exam takers with sensory
impairments in a manner that “best ensures” that they are tested on
what the examination purports to measure, rather than on the exam takers’
impairments. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the
Blind, said: “Although blind people have practiced law successfully
throughout history, we still face unreasonable and unwarranted barriers to
entering and achieving success in the profession. Judge Breyer’s
decision is a tremendous step forward in granting blind Americans seeking to enter
the practice of law full and equal access to the process of acquiring their
credentials. We applaud this common-sense ruling and expect full
compliance going forward from the National Conference of Bar Examiners.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Anna Levine of Disability Rights Advocates, an attorney
representing the plaintiff, said, “Judge Breyer’s decision
vindicates Stephanie Enyart’s request to take the bar exam on a computer,
so that she can be tested on what other examinees are tested on, rather than on
how well she uses an unfamiliar reading method. We only wish that NCBE
had not fought this simple, justified request so aggressively over the past two
years.” <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The suit was filed on November 3, 2009, and charged that the
NCBE violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and <u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:State u2:st="on">California</u1:State></u1:place>’s
Unruh Civil Rights Act by denying accommodations on the Multistate Bar
Examination and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, two
components of the California Bar Exam controlled by NCBE. The State Bar
granted Ms. Enyart’s request to use a computer on the essay portions of
the bar exam, but was unable to grant her request on the portions controlled by
NCBE. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Ms. Enyart was represented with the support of the National
Federation of the Blind (<u1:stockticker u2:st="on">NFB</u1:stockticker>) by
Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP, in <u1:City u2:st="on">Baltimore</u1:City>, <u1:State u2:st="on">Maryland</u1:State>,
and the LaBarre Law Offices, P.C., in <u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:City u2:st="on">Denver</u1:City>,
<u1:State u2:st="on">Colorado</u1:State></u1:place>. The plaintiff was
further represented by Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), a national nonprofit
law center that specializes in civil rights cases on behalf of persons with
disabilities, with offices in <u1:City u2:st="on">Berkeley</u1:City>, <u1:State u2:st="on">California</u1:State>,
and <u1:City u2:st="on"><u1:place u2:st="on">New York City</u1:place></u1:City>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><strong><b><font
size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial'>###<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></strong></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt'><b><font
size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:
bold'>About the National Federation of the Blind<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
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 <u1:country-region u2:st="on"><u1:place u2:st="on">United States</u1:place></u1:country-region>.
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 <u1:country-region u2:st="on"><u1:place u2:st="on">United
States</u1:place></u1:country-region> for the blind led by the blind. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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