Advocacy Group for Blind Sues Law School Admissions Council
Updated: The National Federation of the Blind filed suit today against the Law School Admissions Council, contending that the LSAC discriminates against those with disabilities because its website and test preparation materials aren’t properly coded to be accessible to visually impaired individuals who use screen-reader programs.
The PR Newswire press release reporting the litigation doesn’t say where the complaint was filed.
Law school applicant Deepa Goraya is also a plaintiff in the suit. “Trying to use the LSAC Web site made the experience of applying to law school a nightmare when it should have been as easy for me as for anyone else,” he states in the release. “I had to select and rely upon a reader for over fifty hours to complete my law school applications. Also, none of the practice tests available on the website were accessible.”
The press release says the advocacy group decided to sue after the LSAC canceled a meeting. However, the LSAC says it was ready to resolve the situation, and has made substantial progress in revising its website, with a new launch planned in about two months.
“While we usually do not comment on pending lawsuits, we are doing so in this case because we are disappointed that the federation chose to litigate when we fully expected to address their concerns through productive meetings,” says a spokesperson for the LSAC in an e-mailed comment to the ABA Journal.
“In point of fact, for the past two years LSAC has been working on an extensive redesign of every aspect of the interactive part of our website, with the launch planned for April 25, 2009. A usability consultant has been working in-house advising the developers on accessibility and other usability considerations throughout the design process,” the statement continues.
“It is true that the initial meeting was postponed (not canceled) due to an unplanned business matter that required key staff to be out of the country for an extended period. They have now returned and were attempting to set another meeting at the federation’s offices so that the federation could demonstrate new assistive technologies to help us extend our knowledge in this area.”
More details about the California Superior Court suit, which was filed in Alameda County, are provided in a National Law Journal article.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Target Class Action OK’d, Seeks Web Access for Blind”
Braille Monitor (National Federation of the Blind, 1998): “NFB Passes the Test: Victory in the LSAC Dispute”
Last updated at 2:03 p.m. on Feb. 20 to include link to subsequent National Law Journal article.
