This last weekend I spoke with two people who said very similar statements. “I would not be as capable as you are if I had a disability.” I am paraphrasing but coming from different people in such a short time in varying circumstances set my mind to ponder. I, at the time commented that “you do not know what you are able to do until you are set the task.” or ”No one know innately how to be adaptable.” evolutions since of humor has not allowed for that yet. One of the individuals conceded that you could go on with life if she was shown how, which is the right attitude I think. As I said this it got me thinking, of the various form disabilities take and the accommodations that can be arranged. I am going through some frustrations with the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) around my own accommodations for the LSAT. The medical model of accessibility has been the prevailing understanding for decades. However, I found in the following quote from Micheal Waterstone an associate dean and professor at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, presents a well stated example of a more sociopolitical model of disability as the medical model is re-examined.
“doctors serve as gatekeepers to benefits: fear of fraud. But starting in the 1960s, another more empowering view of disability began to emerge. Fed up with medical professionals exerting control over their lives, people with disabilities urged a new and different view of disability.
Under this view, it is not entirely an individuals impairments (meaning what is different within their body or mind from a "norm") that create a disabling condition; rather, it is society's response to those impairments. To use a simple example, if an individual who uses a wheelchair approaches a building that only has stairs to the entrance, is the individual "disabled" because they are in a wheelchair, or because a building has been built without a ramp? Many disability rights advocates would urge the latter understanding. “
If you would like to read the intire article it can be found here http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_16200411
More to come on this subject.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Test Prep
I am thrilled that I have received such a welcome. It is very encouraging when situations like the following occurs.
There is a lot of time and effort given to the accommodations process but what happens when the preparation for the test itself is not included. I am referring to the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) of course. I am taking a prep course the the university's Teaching and Learning Center. It is a basic overview of the kinds of problems on the test and strategies on how to go about solving them. At the end of the course is a practice test, which is a great idea due to the rather alien nature of the format. The one element that is repeated like a catechism is “practice under the same condition that the test will be taken under.” Very good advice on the whole. However, when I approached Jenifer, the instructor, after class last night and put it before her that I am to have more time and a reader on the real test, her reactions was disappointing. Now, I am not unused to having to come to some kind of compromise, far from it, and I was all ready to do it here. Jenifer thought maybe taking the practice test at Disability Services would work, which is not a bad idea. “I am not a student any more” I said “and I am not sure they would accommodate a practice test anyway.” She conceded the point ans said she would think on it. I am a non confrontational person by nature (on my own behalf usually) but if everyone is encouraged to have an authentic experience of the test I should as well. Reading the problems myself and hearing someone else do it in a timed format, make for a very different feel.
Problems of this kind are not forefront in the minds of the student nor are they thought to much about by the people who teach you how to be your own advocate. It is all about the REAL thing. Think how much better students would do on the test if they were allowed the same conditions the same predictable circumstances like the rest of the class has learned to expect.
There is a lot of time and effort given to the accommodations process but what happens when the preparation for the test itself is not included. I am referring to the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) of course. I am taking a prep course the the university's Teaching and Learning Center. It is a basic overview of the kinds of problems on the test and strategies on how to go about solving them. At the end of the course is a practice test, which is a great idea due to the rather alien nature of the format. The one element that is repeated like a catechism is “practice under the same condition that the test will be taken under.” Very good advice on the whole. However, when I approached Jenifer, the instructor, after class last night and put it before her that I am to have more time and a reader on the real test, her reactions was disappointing. Now, I am not unused to having to come to some kind of compromise, far from it, and I was all ready to do it here. Jenifer thought maybe taking the practice test at Disability Services would work, which is not a bad idea. “I am not a student any more” I said “and I am not sure they would accommodate a practice test anyway.” She conceded the point ans said she would think on it. I am a non confrontational person by nature (on my own behalf usually) but if everyone is encouraged to have an authentic experience of the test I should as well. Reading the problems myself and hearing someone else do it in a timed format, make for a very different feel.
Problems of this kind are not forefront in the minds of the student nor are they thought to much about by the people who teach you how to be your own advocate. It is all about the REAL thing. Think how much better students would do on the test if they were allowed the same conditions the same predictable circumstances like the rest of the class has learned to expect.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
The Begining
One thing that has interested me for a long time has been the laws around service dogs. Since I first knew I wanted to be partnered with a dog with legal protections I started to learn all I could about them. Education of oneself and others (such as my family) is very important when starting off on such a life-changing endeavor. This draw to the service dog world helped to make me more conscious of disability rights outside of my own. Becoming more and more aware of the cross-disability community has shaped my vocation focus. The law is where I belong. Advocating is something that has seemingly come very naturally to and for me. It is time I use those skills to extend the reach of others. This blog is to show the methods I used to get from this point I just described, to working through all of the logistical, accommodations, applications and emotional processes that come with going to law school and being a person who is blind and has a learning disability.
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