[humanser] Accessible Examinations for all Professionals in the Human Services field!

[Merry Schoch via humanser]

Professionals preparing to take a certification or licensing exam and those
who have taken such exams understand the stress involved.    Members of the
Division have experienced unacceptable conditions when being granted the
opportunity to use screen access software as an accommodation. What is very
troubling is in many of these circumstances, the software has failed!!  Some
test takers could not take the exam the first, second, and third times!
Others had to acquiesce to taking the exam with a reader - which was not
their choice of accommodation.

 

The Board of the NFB Human Services Division has adopted an official
position on this issue.  In 2011, there was a resolution adopted regarding
this matter.(both are below this message) 

 

  It is time to get proactive to stop this unacceptable behavior.  We will
no longer wait until someone has to experience the undue stress and anxiety
by waiting at a testing site for a technician to try and get the software to
interact properly with the exam only to end up going home many hours later
and having to reschedule.  I, as President of the Division, vow    that I
will not rest until this is resolved!   However, please 

help by sending to merrys at verizon.net the name of your exam, who owns the
exam, and who administers the exam.  Collective action is needed!  Thank you
for your support and involvement in this matter.  

 

Official Position Statement of the National Federation of the Blind, Human
Services Division concerning licensing examinations and preparatory
materials:

Blind candidates for any professional applications, licensing,
certification, or credentialing ,  should have the ability to independently
take the examinations using reasonable accommodations of their choice,
including the use of screen access technology, and receive their results in
the same timeframe as sighted candidates.    Furthermore, all preparatory
materials  for such  applications, licensing, certification, or
credentialing  should be made available in an accessible format of the blind
candidates choice,  including screen access technology, and reflect the
accommodations provided for the actual examination.

 

 

See  Resolution below:

 

Resolution 2011-12

Regarding Examinations Related to Applications, Licensing, Certification,
and Credentialing for Secondary and Postsecondary Educational, Professional,
or Trade Purposes

WHEREAS, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires entities that
offer examinations related to applications, licensing, certification, or
credentialing for secondary or postsecondary educational, professional, or
trade purposes offer such examinations in a place and manner accessible to
people with disabilities or to offer alternative accessible arrangements for
such individuals; and 

WHEREAS, federal regulations interpreting the ADA require that examinations
be selected and administered so as best to ensure that, when the examination
is administered to an individual with a disability that impairs sensory,
manual, or speaking skills, the examination results accurately reflect the
individual's aptitude or achievement level or whatever other factor the
examination purports to measure, rather than reflecting the individual's
sensory impairment; and 

WHEREAS, the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE) issues two national
multiple-choice examinations used by the vast majority of states as part of
the licensing process for aspiring lawyers, namely the Multistate Bar
Examination (MBE) and the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination
(MPRE); and 

WHEREAS, while state bar examiners or their contractors are technically
responsible for both the administration of the examinations to candidates
and the provision of accommodations to blind candidates, the NCBE controls
what accommodations may be granted to blind candidates taking the MBE and
MPRE insofar as it (1) determines in what accessible formats these
examinations will be produced, and (2) issues specific instructions to
contractors and state bar examiners how these examinations are to be
administered; and 

WHEREAS, currently the only accessible methods by which the NCBE allows its
examinations to be taken are in large print, with a CCTV, in Braille, or on
audio CD with a human reader selected by the test administrator permitted to
mark the answer sheet and/or read the examination questions to a blind
candidate; and 

WHEREAS, although state bar examiners appear willing to allow blind
candidates to take state bar examinations using computers equipped with
screen-access technology and in fact do grant this accommodation for the
portions of the state bar examination that they control, they cannot grant
such accommodations for the NCBE's examinations because the NCBE will not
offer the examinations in an electronic format; and 

WHEREAS, other entities that offer professional licensing, certification, or
credentialing examinations likewise limit the formats of their examinations
and restrict the accommodations available to blind candidates; and 

WHEREAS, while these limited formats and accommodations are appropriate for
some blind candidates, they may not be appropriate for those who have used
computers with screen-access technology as their primary reading medium
throughout law school or their professional training and who have taken most
or all of their law school or other professional examinations using
computers equipped with screen-access technology; and 

WHEREAS, to the extent that blind candidates are permitted to use human
readers selected by the testing entities, these candidates all too often
find that the reader is an untrained volunteer with insufficient education
or experience to read questions containing professional terminology or to
respond appropriately to the directions of the candidate; and 

WHEREAS, the use of a computer with screen-access technology will allow many
blind candidates to read autonomously and deal more efficiently with the
examinations because reading the complex text of problem-solving questions
requires the ability to read, reread, reference, and skip between long
passages of text quickly; and 

WHEREAS, in a court case brought by a blind bar candidate with the
assistance of the National Federation of the Blind, Enyart v. National
Conference of Bar Examiners, both district and appellate courts rejected the
NCBE's interpretation of the ADA and its regulations and instead held that
the NCBE must provide an electronic copy of the examinations to be taken
using screen-access technology if that accommodation is requested; and 

WHEREAS, rather than modifying its outdated and legally untenable position
as a result of these rulings, the NCBE has instead sought relief in the
United States Supreme Court-a course of action that is extremely unlikely to
result in a reversal of the lower court decisions, since it is unlikely that
the Supreme Court will hear the case; and 

WHEREAS, rather than tilting at legal windmills, the NCBE could have used
its time and resources more effectively by working with blind Americans to
craft a set of guidelines that would protect the security and integrity of
the NCBE's examinations, while allowing blind candidates to take the
examinations in the manner best suited to their needs; and 

WHEREAS, in making its spurious legal arguments to the courts, the NCBE has
attempted to use resolutions previously adopted by this organization
approving the use of Braille, large print, and recorded audio as
accommodations for blind test-takers as evidence to support its position,
ignoring the fact that these resolutions are at least a decade old and do
not and are not intended to set forth an exhaustive list of acceptable
accommodations: Now, therefore, 

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention
assembled this seventh day of July, 2011, in the city of Orlando, Florida,
that this organization explicitly endorse the use of a computer with
screen-access technology as an accommodation that is acceptable and indeed
necessary for many blind test-takers and should be granted if the test-taker
requests it, and explicitly recognizes that other technologies, now
available or to be invented, may also be appropriate for blind test-takers;
and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization condemn and deplore the
adoption by NCBE and other testing entities of an outdated and legally
dubious stance on the provision of accommodations to blind candidates
seeking professional licensing, certification, or credentialing; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon the NCBE and other testing entities
immediately to cease this quixotic legal campaign and work with us to craft
policies and procedures that will provide blind candidates with the
accommodations that best suit their needs while protecting the integrity and
security of professional licensing, certification, and credentialing
examinations. 

 

 

 

 

Fraternally submitted,

Merry C. Schoch

National Federation of the Blind

Human Services Division

President