Company Trying to Stop Blind Law School Grad from Taking Bar Exam

posted on Feb 11 by Stacy in the Advocacy, Disability Discrimination, Disability Law, Disability News category

Stephanie Enyart is legally blind. When she graduated from UCLA School of Law last spring, she asked to take the bar exam using the same assistive technology (software that magnified the text and read it into earbuds) she used all through law school.
She was turned down by the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), and was offered different accommodations. They would allow her more time, closed circuit TV to magnify the questions, a human reader, as well as large-print test and an auditory CD version. Stephanie told them that the proposed accommodations might make her nauseated, and the test may be too difficult. The argument was then presented before District Judge Charles Breyer. The National Conference of Bar Examiners argued that they only had to make reasonable accommodations rather than ones that would ensure she passed the test.
The attorney representing the NCBE also argued that her request presented security concerns, and that future test takers would want similar accommodations.
However, in the end, Judge Breyer granted the injunction, and encouraged both sides to work out the details of Stephanie’s accommodation so that she could take the exam - her way.
It is worth noting that The California State Bar had already approved her use of the requested technology for the state specific part of the exam.

Then on Tuesday the 9th, the company filed an emergency appeal asking the court in San Francisco to suspend the judge’s order requiring them to allow Stephanie to use her computer magnification and earbud assistive technology. They said that they should not have to accommodate her in this way because it could pose security issues for them, and they are worried that other test takers might seek similar accomodations.

The judge told the company that they could use their own computer for the test for increased security, but they said that it was too dangerous to ship the computer to California.

Anna Levine, a Disability Rights Advocates lawyer who represents Enyart, called the request “flabbergasting … irrational and mean-spirited.”

The bottom line here is that the National Conference of Bar Examiners has been told by the court to accomodate Ms. Enyart. Instead, they choose to discriminate against a blind student that is becoming a disability lawyer!

Law.com - Blind Law School Grad Gets Say in Bar Exam Accommodations

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/11/BA911BV6LN.DTL