Planet of the Blind

I have been following this story closely. My dismay at the foot dragging by the law board examiners and ACT regarding the provision of assistive technology for a blind law student is now moderately relived. Shame on ACT. 

 

S.K.

 

Law Student Wins Federal Case Against Testing Examiners
(Forbes)
August 9, 2011

BURLINGTON, VERMONT– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express] Deanna Jones, a third-year law student who's legally blind and learning disabled, has won her first big court case: her own. 

Jones sued the National Conference of Bar Examiners in July, accusing it of violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by refusing to let her take a key legal ethics exam using a computer with screen access software that she has used to read in college and in law school. 

Armed with a federal judge's order, she was able to take the test Friday, closely watched by a proctor, test supervisor and someone from the ACT, Inc. testing company, she said. 

Jones, who attends Vermont Law School with hopes of practicing disability law, needs the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam to practice in Vermont. The NCBE fought her request and plans to appeal, saying the security of its pencil-and-paper test could be jeopardized if taken electronically. The organization had offered instead to have someone read the test to Jones, to let her take the test in Braille, in enlarged print, and use an audio CD. 

But a judge ruled Tuesday that the examiners had to provide her a laptop equipped with the special software.

Entire article:
Legally blind Vt. law student wins 1st big case
http://tinyurl.com/4yxhcet
Related:
Law student takes home a win in her own federal case (WCAX)
http://tinyurl.com/3owgd6n

 

Dock spiders the size of your medulla; bumble bee circling as I type; wild turkeys walking, heads thrust forward, looking like velocoraptors–which they are; no boats on the big lake, too early even for the fishermen–Monday, iffy weather report, Thunderstorms likely. Storms are thrilling on this island. The whole lake is surrounded by mountains. There are no rattlesnakes left out here, the locals ate them long ago.

 

S.K.  

Dreamt I was in a coracle out on the Irish sea;

Dreamt I was singing sympatico with my circular boat;

Or did the boat dream me? 

 

S.K. 

 

No one wants to hear your shit—but remember that day in Helsinki when the kid (still a teenager) thought you were personally responsible for Viet Nam? (You told him you were.)

Or remember thinking there’d be a day for standing up straight with your head clear, liberated at last?

Look! I am pushing a large, black wool ball down a dark corridor!

This is a dance for the poets in my country. (The poets with their green suspenders, cartoon flash lights and customized angels…)

Your head clear, liberated at last…

Poetry is not being renewed. I hate to sound like Kenneth Rexroth but have you noticed they’re killing all the young people?

My lines limp rather much the way the blues always do.

Remember thinking you’d live to achieve a double minded smile?

SK

My daughter says she doesn’t want kids.
She’s 30. She has cats. Let me tell you,
hell is real. It’s like pulling a camel
through your nose, cutting through,
cutting through. If I had to work
the whole weekend, I’d slit my throat.
Isn’t it awesome how much love
the universe contains? I’m going
to tell you a story about the toughness
of the serpent. I’m going to dangle you
from the rearview mirror. I promise,
we’re like brother and sister,
There are things that just are, you know?
Things that just mean what they mean.
Why do you care what I have to say?
Do you believe in hell, too?

In a disastrous ruling a California federal court has found in favor of airlines who refuse to make their ticketing kiosks accessible to blind travelers. See fuller details here. 

This is what comes of stuffing the regional federal courts with right wing judges–a "stuffing" that has been going on for thirty years. In this case, Judge Spero simply ruled that the Department of Transportation's rules don't sufficiently cover electronic kiosks. Left out of the ruling is the issue of equal access.

I can tell you that waiting in a line for a ticket agent when there are almost no ticket agents is pretty damned awful. Perhaps Judge Spero would do well to fly with me. But of course he probably wouldn't want to sit next to a dog.

 

S.K.   

 

From the Times:

The brothers, Philip and Joel, earned close to $1 million a year each as the two top executives running a Medicaid-financed nonprofit organization serving the developmentally disabled.

New York spends $10 billion a year caring for the disabled, more than half of which goes to private providers, with little oversight on their spending.

http://nyti.ms/pnTMRb

Sent from my iPhone

Hmmm…”Nixon knew when you testified before a grand jury you exposed yourself to perjury, so I’m betting he told the truth,” Mr Kutler said.

I saw this story on the BBC News iPhone App and thought you should see it.

** Judge approves Watergate release **
A US federal judge orders the release of former US President Richard Nixon’s secret grand jury testimony in the Watergate scandal.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14349727 >

** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want – when you want them, all in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/email >

** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC’s views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have been verified.

Sent from my iPhone

Frank Borzellieri, 48, was quietly promoted to principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School two years ago – despite a history of controversial writings and campaigns, including a push to ban a biography on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Check out this article:

White supremacist principal worries parents

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2011/07/31/2011-07-31_principal_of_hate_school_boss_racist_writings_worry_parents.html

  Terrific essay by Doug Bandow nails Joe Lieberman and John McCain on their respective bogging:

DOUG BANDOW: John McCain: Always Confused, Ever for War

Sen. John McCain has exhibited personal courage, but his geopolitical judgment is uniformly awful. Over the last 30 years there has been no war or potential war that he has opposed.

 

Sent from my iPhone