National Law Journal, Advocate for the Blind Targets Law School Online Application Process:

A national advocacy group for the blind on Wednesday accused law schools across the country of violating the rights of blind would-be law students by using the Law School Admission Council’s (LSAC) online application process.

The National Federation of the Blind filed complaints with the Department of Justice’s civil rights division against nine law schools. The organization accused the schools of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and asked the department to compel them not to use the online application system.

“We’ve asked the U.S. Justice Department to act swiftly and decisively to ensure that blind law school applicants are treated the same as their sighted peers,” said federation President Marc Maurer. …

“Obviously, the LSAC doesn’t believe law schools are discriminating against students who are visually impaired through the application process,” said Fulbright & Jaworski partner Bob Burgoyne, who represents the LSAC. “Hopefully, we’ll be vindicated in this litigation.”

At the center of the federation concern is the LSAC’s streamlined online application system, which bundles information such as academic transcripts and LSAT scores to make it easier to submit applications to different schools. The system is not compatible with software that vocalizes visual information or displays it in Braille for blind users, according the complaints. That means blind users cannot independently use the system. …

The federation opted not to file complaints against any public law schools, as it was unclear what responsibility the U.S. Department of Education would have under those circumstances … Instead, the federation filed complaints against [Chicago, Cardozo, Denver, Gonzaga, John Marshall (Atlanta), Miami, Northeastern, Washington & Lee, and William Mitchell]. The idea is to pressure the targeted law schools to lean on the LSAC to make its online application accessible to the blind. … It’s not enough for law schools to simply offer individual alternatives to the LSAC’s online system, since blind applicants would lose the advantage of easily being able to apply to multiple schools.