[blindlaw] LSAT Accommodations?

Mon May 18 17:34:43 UTC 2009

When I was in college I had to take a giant tape recorder with me that was
about half the size of a modern backpack as it was one of the first cassette
recorders.  One of the professors was afraid of "Big Brother" and didn't
wantme recording his class for notes.  And I was perfectly prepared to
remember everything but it took the geology professor, who used to be a
marine drill sergeant who went up to the professor and just said to him,
"what are you doing?"

But I know of one college near me where the staff has the attitude that once
your are blind, that's it.  They just recently hired their first blind
employee.  they have a staff of over 1100 people.
When I was in High School I was in a wheel chair, and the shool claimed it
was accessible because it was set in a hill and every entrance went out onto
a part of the hill.  Of course there were stairs you had to get over but
somewhere on each level was one direct way out of the building without a
staircase.  Anyway the "ramps" were pavement applied to the hill.  And of
course this was after the Rehabilitation Act so they were required to make
the ramps.  The ramp from the parking lot to the first floor was outside (in
New Jersey) and I was expected to wheel myself up the ramp which was 150
feet long and about 50 feet high.

So I complained and the President of the Board of Education said that he
would be able to roll me up the ramp, no problem.  So I dared him and he got
out there and couldn't do it, not only that, but he lost control of me and
fortunately I was able to stop.  At the top the top of the hill the ramp led
to a staircase but there was more of the ramp going up into the hill and
that was an incline of about 70 degrees.  Then it leveled off and I had to
roll around the baseball field to find the entrance of the building.  I was
expected to do this in the snow.

The solution was that I had to use crutches on the staircases and the
teachers would let me out of class early so I could haul myself up the
staircase.

Years later a judge ordered them to build 3 elevators because they took out
the baseball field and built a town swimming pool and they noticed that the
school was not up to specs for ADA.  That was in the 90s when they put in
the elevator.

James Pepper

On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 3:42 AM, T. Joseph Carter
<carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>wrote:

> In a nutshell, we're talking about student teaching with every school
> district within reach having been "warned" about me and the "legal issues"
> surrounding me.  None are willing to offer me a field placement as a result.
>  (I can prove the action in one district, a pattern response from all
> districts, and a specific explanation as to why I am unwelcome in one of
> them.)
>
> I've been told by the DOE Office for Civil Rights that as long as I have
> received "passing" grades, it is essentially impossible to prove damages,
> despite the fact that I'll not be accepted into any field placements as a
> student teacher, and the districts will refuse to hire me.
>
> Add that to the fact that it's a state university and there are tort
> limitations.  One attorney expressed interest.  He wanted either $450/hr
> plus expenses in advance, or expenses in advance plus about 70-80% on
> contingency.  He would begin by filing lawsuits against several people and
> entities that had neither knowledge of nor responsibility for what had
> happened, in addition to the university.
>
> The net effect would be to alienate all support I had (including the NFB)
> and end any chance of educating the university so that similar abuse did not
> happen to others.  The amount of money I would receive from the suit would
> be less than the cost of tuition, let alone my financial aid loans.  In
> addition, I would still be unable to be employed in the field and with no
> additional training.
>
> I concluded this litigator's top priority was not justice, and I declined
> his offer of representation.
>
> As I said, sometimes the system is rigged.
>
> Joseph
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 08:11:23PM -0700, ckrugman at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>
>> that's the point when all else has failed and you have your documentation
>> it becomes litigation time.
>> Chuck
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "T. Joseph Carter" <
>> carter.tjoseph at gmail.com>
>> To: "NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 5:16 AM
>> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] LSAT Accommodations?
>>
>>
>> Chuck,
>>>
>>> I'd say lack of preparation and acquisition of skills needed for college
>>> accounts for a fair bit, but sometimes it just doesn't matter what you bring
>>> to the game.  Sometimes, the game's been rigged, and you may not know about
>>> it until you've invested yourself.
>>>
>>> There are few coping skills that will help you if you become subject to
>>> institutionalized discrimination, the subjective and reactive application of
>>> unwritten policies, and vicious gossip and character assassination. With
>>> strong social support, tenacity in abundance, very strong skills, and the
>>> grace of God, you might survive.
>>>
>>> That's what I've been dealing with.  Of course, anyone who knows me can
>>> tell you that I am a born fighter.  I don't give up.  More importantly, if I
>>> have to go through it, I'm going to make sure that nobody else ever has to.
>>>  And yet, even I have been ready to walk away a few times.  I can promise
>>> you that anyone else would have.  I've learned that many people have in the
>>> past.  Not one person with a disability has survived my program in six
>>> years.
>>>
>>> Sometimes, it just doesn't matter what you do, how you do it, or what
>>>  skills you've got.  If your faculty are determined to see you fail because
>>> you are blind, there's not much you can do until the damage is already done.
>>>
>>> I don't know how we can prepare people for that, except to have them read
>>> lots of early Federation history and all of Dr. Jernigan's more militant
>>> speeches.  *grin*  I'm not certain it'll help, but it's the best suggestion
>>> I've got.
>>>
>>> Joseph
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, May 16, 2009 at 11:06:09PM -0700, ckrugman at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>>>
>>>> Being a product of public schools in the 60's where I was the only blind
>>>> student and college and grad school in the 70's and 80's where
>>>>  accommodations were negotiated between myself and the professors on a large
>>>> university campus. The bottom line was that blind and other  disabled
>>>> students learned how to solve their problems and how to function
>>>> independently in all facets of their education and life or they failed.
>>>> Basic coping skills both for academic and nonacademic survival are a needed
>>>> prerequisite to college and work and reasonable accommodation through any
>>>> legislation is not going to bring about an increase of success in college or
>>>> the real world of employment.
>>>> Chuck
>>>>
>>>
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>
>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
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