[NFBWV-Talk] Fwd: [State-Affiliate-Leadership-List] Blind and Deafblind Students Set to Take Advanced Placement Tests File Civil Rights Complaint Against College Board

Mon May 11 17:45:50 UTC 2020

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Danielsen, Chris via State-Affiliate-Leadership-List <
state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org>
Date: Mon, May 11, 2020 at 11:50 AM
Subject: [State-Affiliate-Leadership-List] Blind and Deafblind Students Set
to Take Advanced Placement Tests File Civil Rights Complaint Against
College Board
To: NCB Staff <NCBStaff at nfb.org>, nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org <
nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org>, State Affiliate Leadership List <
state-affiliate-leadership-list at nfbnet.org>
CC: Danielsen, Chris <CDanielsen at nfb.org>

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

*Blind and Deafblind Students Set to Take Advanced Placement Tests File
Civil Rights Complaint Against College Board*

*National Federation of the Blind also Party to Complaint*

*Baltimore, Maryland (May 11, 2020):* Five blind high school students and
the National Federation of the Blind, the nation’s leading advocate for
equal education of the blind, have filed a complaint against the College
Board with the United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights
(OCR) on behalf of themselves and all other blind and deafblind students
who are registered to take the May 2020 advanced placement (AP) tests from
the College Board. The complaint alleges that the College Board, which is
primarily administering the AP tests digitally because of the coronavirus
pandemic, is refusing to grant the students approved accommodations to
which they are entitled. These accommodations include hardcopy Braille
versions of the examinations; hardcopy tactile versions of the charts,
coordinate planes, maps, and other graphics that must be interpreted in
order to answer examination questions; the use of qualified readers; and
approved breaks. Although the students are allowed to use assistive
technology such as a screen reader and are being given extra time, any
amount of time the student takes to resolve an issue with their assistive
technology will still be deducted from their testing time. The students and
the National Federation of the Blind have proposed several solutions to
meet what the College Board says are security concerns with administering a
hardcopy Braille test, but all of these proposals have been rejected.

“My fellow blind and deafblind AP scholars and I only desire a chance to be
successful,” said Kaleigh Brendle, who organized the effort to file the
complaint. “We have contacted Braille transcription companies, which have
expressed their willingness and ability to produce the material if the
College Board were to provide it. We desire to compromise, but every time
we attempt to do so, our efforts are dismissed by this organization. We are
not blind to injustice.”

“By propounding a false choice between equal access and security, the
College Board seeks to force a one-size-fits-all accommodation on these
students, in clear violation of applicable federal law,” said Mark
Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind. “Furthermore,
the College Board is denying them the right to use Braille, the globally
recognized reading and writing method for blind and deafblind people. The
National Federation of the Blind is America’s civil rights organization of
the blind and the nation’s leading champion of Braille. We have tried to
work with the College Board in the past but significant systemic change has
not happened. We will not stand for the College Board’s discrimination and
are proud to fight alongside these students.”

*###*

*About the National Federation of the Blind *

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), headquartered in Baltimore, is
the oldest and largest nationwide organization of blind Americans. Founded
in 1940, the NFB consists of affiliates, chapters, and divisions in the
fifty states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico. The NFB defends the rights of
blind people of all ages and provides information and support to families
with blind children, older Americans who are losing vision, and more. We
believe in the hopes and dreams of blind people and work together to
transform them into reality. Learn more about our many programs and
initiatives at www.nfb.org.

*CONTACT:*

Chris Danielsen

Director of Public Relations

National Federation of the Blind

(410) 659-9314, extension 2330

(410) 262-1281 (Cell)

cdanielsen at nfb.org

Also available at:
https://www.nfb.org/about-us/press-room/blind-and-deafblind-students-set-take-advanced-placement-tests-file-civil

Christopher S. Danielsen, J.D.

Director of Public Relations

200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
<https://www.google.com/maps/search/200+East+Wells+Street,+Baltimore,+MD+21230?entry=gmail&source=g>

(410) 659-9314, Ext. 2330 | cdanielsen at nfb.org

Twitter: @rlawyer

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work together to help blind people live the lives they want.

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-- 
Sheri Koch, President
National Federation of the Blind of West Virginia
304-993-5103