Now Accepting: Name Suggestions for the future USF Law Student Disabilities Group

Hi Everyone!

My name is Will Brett and I'm the Student Disabilities Services Representative to the SBA at USF Law. A number of classmates have expressed the desire to start a student group for everyone interested in disabilities-related issues in the law and at school and, to that end, we need your help! The student group as such won't exist until the next academic year, and it might not even happen if not enough people are interested. So I hope everyone will stay tuned, post, comment, and even come to our [unofficial] events and meetings (read: free food). MOST IMPORTANT of all: we need a name! If you've got a good idea for a name, please add them to this post or email your suggestions to usfsdslawrep@gmail.com

Ex: Law Students for Disabilities Awareness

Ex: Disabilities as Capabilities Student Group

Ex: [Your Suggestion Here]

Thanks!

Fascinating Article!

Federal Court Rules in Favor of Blind Law School Grad
http://www.jdjournal.com/2010/02/01/federal-court-rules-in-favor-of-blind-law-school-grad/

Mon, Feb 1, 2010

On Friday U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco ordered the National Conference of Law Examiners to accommodate Stephanie Enyart, a legally blind law school graduate attempting to take the California Bar exam. Enyart filed a suit against the NCBE after they refused to allow her to use special software during the two multiple choice sections of the exam, which is controlled by the organization in several states. Instead the NCBE offered alternative accommodations which Enyart did not believe were adequate.

The NCBE argued that federal disability law doesn’t require testing organization to provide disabled examinees with their preferred accommodations. The NCBE also argued that putting test questions on a computer disk would expose them to “hackers and thieves” The examiners wanted Enyart to accept the usual accommodations consisting of a pencil and paper test with questions displayed on an enlarged screen, a human reader and twice the normal testing period.

Enyart said that she needed her software specifically to have a fair opportunity to pass the exam. Breyer agreed and said the organization could provide its own computer to deal with security concerns. Enyart is a 32 year old graduate of UCLA School of Law and a law clerk at Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley. She will take the exam beginning February 23. The NCBE could ask the federal appeals court to block Breyer’s order.