Three blind law school graduates, who were allowed to use screen-access software during law school, have been denied the right to use specialized computer-based aides on the Multistate Bar Examination portion of the Maryland bar exam. Earlier this year, UCLA School of Law graduate Stephanie Enyart fought the same battle and was awarded permission by a judge to use screen-reader computer software on the Multistate Bar Examination section of the California exam. Her case is on hold, however, as the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE), the agency responsible for administering the Multistate portion of the exam nationwide, filed an appeal that has suspended the court order.
One the three plaintiffs in the Maryland case, Michael Witver, a graduate of Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, had previously used the ZoomText program to assist him in reading the computer screen—he is partially blind. Anne Blackfield and Timothy Elder depend on a program known as JAWS that speaks aloud the text on the screen and provides spoken instructions for navigating the screen. All three have sued the NCBE for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The NCBE has agreed to supply blind test takers with human readers, audio CDs and additional time, in Enyart’s case, but has refused to allow a computer-based form of the traditionally paper-based examination.
Although these three law graduates are facing challenges when it comes to the NCBE-administered portion of the bar exam, the state of Maryland has agreed to allow them to use computer-based software for the state-specific section of the test. Enyart, who is being represented by Daniel Goldstein, the same attorney presenting Blackfield, Elder and Witver’s case, will reappear in court at the end of this week to pursue her case against the NCBE.
