Tag: law

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Disabled State of the Union 2021

I’m a disabled woman, disability rights lawyer, and disability counselor and assessment specialist. Disability affects me personally and professionally. It drives me to advocate for an inclusive, diverse, and accessible tomorrow. I’m not alone. There is a rich disability culture online and in person. This Disability Pride Month, I am highlighting the key issues facing the disability community in this Disabled State of the Union address. Let me know what you think! Also available on the Apple Podcast app!

Transcript:

Hi everyone and thank you for watching or listening. My name is Ashley Jacobson. I am a disability rights attorney, who also holds a master’s degree and certification in a disability counseling field. I also am a woman living with physical disability from autoimmune disease. Throughout my life, I’ve been inspired by the work of seemingly fearless advocates. It wasn’t until I became an advocate myself, that I truly understood how necessary, and challenging advocacy can be. It’s not always well received (or initially understood) but in those moments, when you see a change to which you’ve devoted your efforts, we become one step closer to a truly equitable and inclusive world. As someone who has professionally and personally experienced disability, I’ve witnessed just how important disability justice (or inclusion) is for our future. While disability is incredibly common, and perhaps the most normal and shared human experience, it’s still stigmatized and discriminated against in workplaces, community groups, schools, and social settings. Everyone blessed with the opportunity to age will acquire some form of disability in their lifetimes. 1 in 4 adults in the US have a disability—that’s over 61 million potential voters, and includes many of your coworkers, family, and friends. When I tell nondisabled individuals that statistic, they think, “No way.” You, even might be wondering, how is it that possible? Do I really know that many people in my personal life who are living with disability? Disability affects people of every race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and identity. Disability is diverse. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the definition of disability is all encompassing to include:

A person living with a mental or physical condition that significantly impairs one or more major life functions (eating, sleeping, grooming, bathing, working, mobility, hearing, vision, etc.); OR

A person who has a record of being diagnosed with such a condition; OR

A person who others regard as having a disability. The lawmakers did an extraordinary thing when they made the definition of disability that broad. They acknowledged that the disability experience itself is as diverse as the disability community throughout our country. They recognized that even without formal diagnosis, you have disability rights. They recognized that inherently and purposely discriminatory environments needed to be made more equitable and accessible.

It’s important to note, that disability rights are recent in our history. I lived before they existed in the widespread fashion, they are in today. And while these rights are a great start, there is a long way to go. Disability includes those with anxiety, ADHD, dyslexia, PTSD, hearing loss, vision loss, brain injury, chronic illness, and many other conditions which far exceed the limited stereotype nondisabled people see when picturing disability. To most nondisabled people, they hear “disability” and think someone using a wheelchair. While that certainly is one group of the disability community, it’s not the whole disability community. Why is this important?

Because if we want to truly address the issues of today, to ensure a better tomorrow, we must have an accurate depiction of who will be living in that tomorrow. We must recognize disabled citizens as part of our present and future. One of the central issues facing the disabled, is the lack of recognition by the nondisabled of disability culture and its value in our society.

A remarkable effect of advocacy and accessible social media spaces, is that people from the disability community have become more organized in their advocacy and more equipped at sharing resources with disabled individuals throughout our country. But advocates have been sharing and fighting for disability justice for decades. They climbed the steps of the Capital, some forced to disembark their wheelchairs to climb on hands and knees—because there was no ramp.

They performed sit-ins, protests, and policy reviews. They demonstrated strength, tenacity, and leadership—and in doing so, demonstrated the value of our community.

Yet, parents still fear for their children’s futures when they’re born with disability. They are told by doctors that their newborns will never work, never marry, and never have kids of their own. As a result of this stigmatizing start, kids grow up being told they have “special needs,” because to the nondisabled, the term “disabled” is terrifying and wrong. Parents are, of course, doing their best to adapt to their children’s disabilities—but when we sugar coat the term “disabled,” we’re teaching children to hide their conditions from others, to shield the world from their differences, and to pretend to conform to a nondisabled experience. Even more damaging, is that we aren’t teaching them that disability is normal, that their disability has certain characteristics to which they can accept and adapt, and that people with disabilities have value.

One of the reasons the disabled haven’t been seen as valued members of our society, is because the unemployment rate for this population is extraordinarily high (nearly 80% of people with disabilities were unemployed in 2020 as opposed to around 40% for the nondisabled, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics) [cite: PERSONS WITH A DISABILITY: LABOR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS — 2020 (bls.gov)].

This is a result of two main things: discrimination in the workplace, and aging. One of the largest populations in the disability community, is the elderly. But when it comes to employment–

If you talk to almost any disabled person who is capable of and trying to maintain employment, of which there are many, you’ll hear horror stories about discrimination they faced in hiring practices and once hired on the job.

People are denied interviews once they disclose a disability and they’re denied accommodations once they accept a new job.

For many, this is why disclosing a disability is tremendously nerve-wracking. It’s also one of the main things on which I counsel my clients.

They have to prepare, sometimes in excruciating detail, how they choose to disclose; if or when to disclose; where to disclose; and to whom they disclose. Each time they interview, they’re thinking about these factors, and bracing for the discrimination that so often follows.

And, once they get the job, they’re bracing for discrimination in the form of denied accommodations, rude comments, unjust job evaluations, and discriminatory firings.

You might be wondering, what the heck are accommodations? Under the ADA, disabled individuals have a right to reasonable accommodations in the workplace, in schools, and many other places. This could include adapted tools (weighted pens, larger text, additional time on tests in school, access to medical equipment, access to communication equipment, assistive technology, etc.). But despite the ADA, employers and professors deny accommodations every day.

I’ll give you an example:

One of the symptoms of my disability is hand tremors. In law school, I needed to type my exam essays, rather than write by hand, because I can type at a more reasonable pace. I’d studied for hours, and I showed up to the exam room with my laptop. In order to log into the exam software, I had to have an internet connection. For some reason, that room would not allow my computer to access the internet that day. The accommodations coordinator said, “Well, can’t you just write this one time?”

When I asked to use the school’s other testing room which had an open desktop computer specifically set up for students to take exams, they said I couldn’t because I told them I’d use my laptop—not knowing the internet wouldn’t work in my testing room that day. There were two empty desktop computers in rooms set up for testing, and they forced me to hand-write. I spent the entire time slowly etching out my essay by hand. With two minutes left, I had to guess on every single multiple-choice answer and just hope for the best.

After, I notified the professor, the deans, and the accommodations coordinator that I was denied my accommodation. One dean said to my supportive professor, “Well why should she get special treatment? She’s probably just complaining because she didn’t do well.” What he didn’t know, was that I received the highest score in the class. I had literally guessed all of the multiple-choice questions correctly. Then, he used my “success” as a reason to not address the problem– “If she did well, what’s she complaining about?”

2 takeaways from this story:

Disability accommodations are a right under the law. They are not determined unnecessary because someone happens to survive without them because of luck or any other reason.

Disability accommodations are not “special treatment.” Disability rights laws were created because these environments—schools, workplaces, etc.–were proven to be inherently discriminatory and inaccessible spaces. Accommodations are the after-thought in making spaces accessible for people with disabilities. And, they’re essential until our society has remedied the discrimination in these environments.

But I didn’t just experience this during law school. When I sat for the bar exam, I had to apply for my accommodations to be approved, months in advance, and they were approved. Yet, when I showed up on testing day at each testing session over the 2-day period for the bar exam in Michigan, the proctors had forgotten to plan to implement the accommodations, and wanted to just throw them out the window, “You’ll be right without them, right?” they said, and I said, “No. Not only will I not be fine without them, they’re my rights. They argued with me for 15-20 minutes at the start of each testing session. For a test that’s already incredibly expensive to take, and stressful to prepare for. And when I complained about the inaccessibility and discrimination at the bar exam, I was again dismissed. “Well she’s probably upset because she didn’t do that well.” When in reality I had passed the exam, but that’s not the point. I passed the bar exam because I had to compensate more than my nondisabled peers. I had to guess correctly in many cases. And I dealt with the trauma of being discriminated against, for the biggest test of my life, for months following the exam. And when I went to report it to the Board of Law Examiners, to the Governor of the state of Michigan, truly, nobody knew who would answer for this discrimination, how it could be fixed and reversed, who we would hold accountable. So one of my goals as an attorney who is disabled, who practices disability civil rights, is to make sure that my profession, the legal profession, doesn’t perpetuate this discrimination for future disabled lawyers. But the issues affecting people with disabilities isn’t just in schools or the workplace.

Another main issue affecting those with disabilities is the climate crisis—and yet, they are so often excluded from consideration in environmental advocacy.

Disabled individuals are disproportionately affected by natural disasters. Over the last couple of years especially, there have been reports of people not having accessible methods for evacuating during wildfires, being abandoned in nursing homes during hurricanes, and undeserving of emergency shelter.

Disabled people are also, in many cases, greatly interested in environmental advocacy. One of the leaders who has illuminated the climate crisis to millions is Greta Thunberg. Greta, though a child at the time, was brutally attacked by grown politicians who highlighted her history with autism, anxiety, and depression as a means to discredit her.

They repeatedly projected to Greta and to the millions of individuals with disabilities around the world, that if you have a disability, you shouldn’t speak up, you shouldn’t have a voice, you shouldn’t be taken seriously.

To Greta’s tremendous credit, she persisted, as often those with disabilities do, in the face of such discrimination. In her movie on Hulu, she talks about this, and about how the idea of her disabilities being used to discredit her is ludicrous because having autism has actually brought her the drive, consistency, and commit to pursue her advocacy.

And yet, as our world is becoming less and less inhabitable for all, it more quickly becomes even less inhabitable for the disabled.

When snow falls, they are stranded in their homes, because there is no sidewalk on which they can safely travel with a cane, walker, or wheelchair.

When hurricanes occur, some cannot be evacuated before the storm, and then after the hurricane hits, they cannot make it to their roof to await emergency personnel who can rescue them.

When the wildfires rage through their communities, their lungs might be more easily affected by the air quality, their personal attendants might decide to evacuate without them, and their attempts to find a shelter with accessible restrooms, beds, or even entrances are fruitless. They are again, treated as an afterthought. Disposable. Unimportant.

The attitude our society has about disabled people being disposable has been horrifically apparent during this pandemic.

As someone living with autoimmune disease, I heard countless politicians, family, and friends remark on how they were relieved that the worst symptoms of Covid only affected vulnerable individuals—the elderly and those with underlying conditions. I am one of those individuals, and I’d hear this every single day—when I turned on the news, when I talked to my friends, and when I logged on to social media.

I also heard medical professionals prioritizing the treatment and care of nondisabled people over the disabled. They literally calculated disabled lives to be of less value in our society.

I admit, there are valid discussions that need to occur during a public health crisis with limited supplies and that tough decisions had to be made by healthcare workers in an impossible position.

That being said, too often, disabled lives were discounted. Regardless of contribution to society, regardless of compliance with social distancing and mask usage, regardless of (in many instances) typical lifespan being equal to that of their nondisabled peers.

Though deemed “vulnerable” to the most severe symptoms of Covid-19, disabled individuals were not given appropriate access to the vaccine. In Michigan, they provided for the vaccination of the elderly (of which of course, there is a large portion of people with disabilities), but for all of those with disabilities under the age of 65, who were not essential workers (and, many couldn’t be essential workers because of hiring discrimination), they were the last to become eligible. Insultingly, the caregivers of the disabled were given vaccines before disabled people themselves.

However, these attitudes are not new. People with disabilities were institutionalized for over a century, through the 1970s, for some conditions that frankly are common and manageable by the individual in everyday life—things like epilepsy, down syndrome, deafness, and low vision. These institutions were not like the hospitals or facilities you see today—they were traumatizing, violently abusive, and neglectful. If you want to learn more, google “Willowbrook Institution.”

But when the de-institutionalization movement “ended,” the institutionalization of the disabled, especially disabled people of color, continued.

As an attorney and advocate, one of the most pressing issues I see facing the disability community today is within our criminal justice, juvenile detention, and prison systems.

A great example of this issue is actually the reason I became an attorney. When I was working as a counselor with disabled adults, I had a client who had a disability that greatly affected this person’s speech and vocabulary. One day, my client was mugged and called the police. When they arrived, instead of correctly assessing that my client had a disability, they believed my client was under the influence and disorderly.

My client was arrested, and had signed a plea deal with a forever charge on their record all within a couple of hours. This client is kind, hard-working, and cares for their family—but simply called the police for help and was arrested because they didn’t understand disability. I signed up for the LSAT and became a lawyer because I saw this happen far too often.

People with disabilities are being falsely arrested, wrongfully convicted, and institutionalized in prison at alarmingly high rates. 30-40% of adult inmates have documented disabilities, and without a doubt, there are many more who were never properly assessed that make that number much higher.

Police departments report openly that most of their instances of excessive force are inflicted against people with mental illness, including those with substance use disorders. Unsurprisingly, Black disabled individuals are at even higher risk. Matthew Rushin, Elijah McClain, Duante Wright, Pamela Turner, and many, many more valued individuals with disabilities were incarcerated or killed at the hands of the police. But adults are not the only ones affected by this massive problem.

Children with disabilities, especially Black disabled children, are more likely to face harsher punishment in schools and juvenile adjudications. They are also more likely to be reported for “problematic behaviors” that are a result of their disability not being properly assessed or addressed through appropriate services and supports than their white, nondisabled counterparts.

Children facing trauma, disability, and racial discrimination are being assessed incorrectly when the lawyers, CPS workers, judges, and referees don’t take disability into account. There are some that do—but it’s not uncommon that they don’t.

Disability affects every facet of the legal system, every legal area, and truly every facet of our society.

And these are just some of the many issues being discussed in the disability justice movement. The truth is, everyone needs to learn and care about disability advocacy, because anyone can become disabled at any time. When I say this, sometimes people think it’s threatening in nature, because they’re viewing disability as something to fear. While it’s not always pretty, fun, fair…disability doesn’t discount the joy in your life, the meaning in your work, the importance of your presence.

If you are listening to this, and you have a disability, please take this in:

You have value. You have power in your vote. You are worthy.

If you are listening to this, and you don’t have a disability, hear this:

We welcome you to our causes. There is space for your allyship. If you’d like to learn more about the disability community, reach out to me. Search the hashtag #DisabilityAdvocate on social media. Head to my website jacobsonlawandadvocacy.com (also @JLAfirm on Facebook), and my personal but public Instagram page @ashleybjacobson (where I share tons of resources).

Thank you.

Legal mentorship program for law students with disabilities

By Ashley Jacobson, Esq., MA, CRC
Disability Rights Attorney, Disability Assessment Specialist & Counselor

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW! 🗣🙌🏼

Imagine being in a highly-competitive field where ONE-THIRD OF ONE PERCENT of people are like you. That leaves more than 99% of people who inadvertently place hurdles in your path, discriminate against you and those like you, and create inaccessible work environments. To be a disabled lawyer is to be a lawyer on an island.

This is a problem. Law firms don’t see that disabled lawyers have the most important skills in quickly adapting to unpredictable challenges, reliability, resilience, hard work, assessing client needs, and innovation. Clients don’t know to trust in the abilities of lawyers with disabilities because many have never seen one before.

Think about the disabled lawyers (and paralegals and other legal professionals) who not only face all of that from a disability standpoint, but are also discriminated against based on their race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or socioeconomic status.

Imagine knowing you are smart, capable, driven, and worthy of a seat at the table—but you’re assumed the opposite of all those things simply because you look differently…even though you passed the same bar exam as everyone else.

ANNOUNCEMENT – Through LegallyAbled.com I am starting a mentorship program for law students with disabilities. Maybe you are thinking about going to law school, maybe you’re about to take the bar exam—wherever you are in the process, you can apply. I can help you apply for accommodations for the LSAT, law school, and the bar. I can help you find employment (my masters and counseling certification is in disability counseling, and I’ve helped many find employment). I can help you assess whether law school is right for you, and if it is, help you find and apply to the right law school.

I will be accepting 3-5 people in this mentee class. If you’re interested, email legallyabled@gmail.com! It’s completely free.

Disability and Police Brutality: Methods for Protecting Yourself

I recently wrote a piece on the dangerous effects of police brutality against members of the disability community. As a disability rehabilitation counselor and disability rights attorney, I’ve implemented and shared methods for protecting yourself from the police with my counseling and legal clients. Now, it is more evident than ever that I need to share these strategies with as many people as I can. Click the link here to read more.

Thanks,

Ashley Jacobson, Esq., MA, CRC

Disclaimer: any advice not given in a personalized consultation setting should not be construed or received as legal advice. To receive legal feedback, seek the advice of an attorney who specializes in your need, in your geographic area. This post is educational in nature.

The ADA: We’ve Got a Long Way to Go

The ADA: We’ve Got a Long Way to Go

By Ashley Jacobson, Esq., MA, CRC

On July 26, 1990 President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law. This Act addresses discrimination against people with disabilities with broad-sweeping protections. If you have a physical, mental, cognitive, hearing, visual, or other condition that significantly interferes with one or more major life activities (eating, sleeping, grooming, cooking, etc.); have been diagnosed or recorded as having such a condition; or if you are regarded by others as having a disability this law protects you.

It establishes that people with disabilities must not face discrimination in public, private, transportation, education–pretty much anywhere. And yet, since this law was enacted, people with disabilities have had little luck holding the Act’s violators accountable.

One reason for this, is that the legal battle for fighting disability discrimination in court is tumultuous and COSTLY. With a large portion of the disability community unemployed or underemployed, often because of discrimination in hiring practices, how are people with disabilities to afford lengthy legal battles?

Another issue with enforcing the ADA is that most employers, politicians, parents, friends, and other community members never made the effort to understand the protections afforded in this important piece of law. Ignorance is not an excuse when it comes to enforcing laws, but the lack of general understanding about the ADA outside of the disability community leads to burnout among the disability community’s members, who have to explain and be experts in protecting their rights, AND holding people in positions of power accountable.

This leads to the third issue–many people with disabilities lack a thorough knowledge of their disability rights. The ADA is certainly the most discussed disability rights law, but it is just one of quite a few laws protecting people with disabilities. Even so, after the general purpose of the law, many people don’t know the Act’s specific provisions. If you don’t know the provisions, how can you know every instance those rights are violated? Disability rights attorneys like myself, and educators (special educators and general educators) need to operate on an accessible level, educating the disability community from a young age on how its members are entitled to protections under the law to account for systemic ableism and discrimination that threatens their livelihood, and sometimes–their lives.

However, even when disability rights attorneys know and help those with disabilities, too many attorneys have no training in adapting the legal process to the needs of their clients with disabilities. The legal system is largely inaccessible, and lawyers rarely have the special education and disability rehabilitation counseling work background I have. They don’t change how the documents look so that their clients with visual disabilities can read them. They don’t adapt their questions in legal consultations to account for communication differences. They don’t know, what they don’t know, but that’s never an excuse. Lawyers, of all specialties, need to approach each client with individual assessments of how the legal system can be adapted to involve them in their cases.

Let’s say that the person knows his rights, has a job or can afford an attorney, that attorney is knowledgeable in serving people with disabilities, that attorney adapts the legal process to the client’s needs, and there is a clear violation of the ADA. Depending on where the discrimination takes place, it can be extremely challenging holding the guilty party accountable.

Too frequently, the person in charge of implementing punishment or holding wrong-doers accountable has no background in assessing circumstances for a person with a disability. The state’s department of civil rights takes on too few cases, shows difficulty in upholding disability rights and holding discriminators accountable, and routinely ignores complaints against people who work for community agencies, professional groups, employers, etc. If the department of civil rights isn’t the person who holds the guilty discriminator accountable, even the courts have difficulty in deciding how severe the punishments should be. They assess the remedies under the law incorrectly, because they wrongly assume people with disabilities wouldn’t make as much money in their jobs or would have a more restricted working past or future. This is important, because punishments under the law take into account loss of work and pay when determining how much money someone should receive once they win the lawsuit. If the judge or jury decides you deserve less, especially because they are unaware of their biases against people with disabilities, plaintiffs are at-risk of being under rewarded and remedied even if they win their cases.

Additionally, for workplace discrimination issues, the lawmakers who enacted the ADA decided that small workplaces can be excused for discriminating against the disability community. If the number of employees is small, employers may be able to discriminate without consequence. There are holes in the ADA that must be addressed.

The ADA was certainly a start–but 30 years later, we can do better. We shouldn’t settle for a law written decades prior, when we can address disability equality needs today. Travel, schools, leaders, and so many more aspects of our lives today have changed. Our laws (and the enforcement of the laws) must reflect that.

Especially when the pandemic brings with it discussions of lessening accommodations in schools (it can’t under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Rehab Act, and ADA–but it can evolve to create different “reasonable” accommodations under the ADA in pandemic times). Especially when marriage equality is not a concrete right for people with disabilities who rely on government benefits for healthcare and financial assistance (there may be legal options depending on the person, but in a wide variety of cases people with disabilities can lose vital benefits if they’re married and their spouse makes more than $2,000 a month–another reason why the lawyer you choose is so important. They may be able to use certain trusts for this not to be an issue). Especially when employers are still discriminating against people with disabilities in interviews and workplaces. Especially when police are still using excessive force and wrongfully arresting people with disabilities because they misunderstand disability symptoms and instead see those symptoms as evidence of criminal behavior or motives. Especially when prosecutors are still uneducated on interviewing people with disabilities (a community more likely to be attacked by violent or economic criminals). Especially when prosecutors are more likely to not bring cases against criminals who target people with disabilities because they see a person with a disability as an “unreliable witness.” Especially when juries are still susceptible to imposing their disability biases when deciding the fate of a defendant with a disability.

Celebrate the ADA. It was, and still is, a monumental law. But it shouldn’t be the be-all-end-all-law for communities that continue to evolve. Disability discrimination still happens every day. We can and must do better.

Fire All LAPD Responsible for Disability Rights Violations

Photo by alexandre saraiva carniato on Pexels.com
Photo by Shane Aldendorff on Pexels.com

Ashley Jacobson, Esq., MA, CRC
Disability Rights Attorney, Disability Assessment Specialist and Counselor, and Advocate

Over the weekend, another startling video emerged of Joshua, a Black protester with a disability in Los Angeles, being brutally physically attacked and forcibly removed from his wheelchair by LAPD (available on my Instagram: @ashleybjacobson, originally seen on the Instagram account: @misanharriman).

Joshua had his disability rights violated by over ten LAPD officers.  In the process, officers are seen throwing his expensive wheelchair violently against the ground, immediately damaging the chair, causing the wheels to fall off, bending and and scratching the chair itself.

Let me be clear, as a disability rights lawyer and advocate living with physical disability–People with disabilities are entitled to disability rights even when they are stopped, questioned, investigated, detained, searched, arrested, incarcerated, and prosecuted in court by police and state attorneys.

The disability community is the largest minority group in the world.  We are strong when we demand change together.  As such, I have compiled a few action steps we can all take to hold all officers (and their leaders who perpetuate a culture of ableism) accountable.

1) Report the incident in several ways.  I’ll start with the wording itself.  If you are unsure how to write the email, here is a template I made.  I indicate several areas where you can choose or change the language based on your preferences or the message you want to convey, because otherwise officials will filter all messages with the same copied text to their email junk folder or trash bin–one way they get around reading such complaints.  Try switching things up instead of just choosing the first choice every time–we are trying to avoid everyone sending the same email.

If you are unable to use the template or want help writing an email, please email me at legallyabled@gmail.com and I will type up the email language for you, email it to you, and then all you have to do is copy and paste it to your email when you send it to the individuals I list below.

Here is the template (you can choose which sentences and wordings you’d like to use):

My name is [enter your name here].  I am a person [choose one or more: living with disability / caring for a person with a disability / who has a loved one with a disability].  During a peaceful [choose one: protest / demonstration / march / assembly], over ten Los Angeles police officers were caught on film violating the disability rights of a man named Joshua.  He is [choose one: entitled to / afforded] these rights under several disability rights laws in the United States, including the Americans with Disabilities Act [optional: ADA] and Rehabilitation Act [optional to add here: of 1973].  Joshua was, [optional: and all people with disabilities are,] entitled to disability rights when [choose one or more: stopped, detained, questioned, investigated, arrested, booked, or incarcerated].

Disability rights leaders and experts [choose one or more: warn / know / caution / advise], any and all officers who violated Joshua’s rights [optional: and the rights of others in the disability community] are financial liabilities to your department, city, and state as [choose one: qualified immunity / typical legal deference given to police] does not prevent such officers from being successfully sued under disability rights laws as recently [choose one: affirmed / decided / held] by the courts.

I demand that all officers be [choose one or more: immediately / swiftly / quickly] identified, fired with loss of any pension, and fined for [choose one or more: replacing / repairing / fixing / resolving any issues with] Joshua’s wheelchair.

[Optional: Any action or inaction by leaders pertaining to this massive rights violation will result in the loss of votes and public support by the largest minority in your jurisdiction—the disability community.]

[Optional:  Choosing to ignore this issue makes you complicit.]

2) After you’ve written or received the text to send with your complaint, follow one or more of the methods below by filing a complaint with the police:

“Any person who believes they were wrongfully accused of a crime, unjustly injured, or
experienced misconduct on the part of an officer can make a complaint with the Department’s Internal Affairs Group hotline at 1-800-339-6868. For complaints specifically related to the protests you can email ProtestResponse2020@lapd.online . Individuals can also make a complaint through the Office of the Inspector General at 213 893 6400 or [email] to:oigcompl@lapd.online if email is preferred.

How to File a Complaint
If you would like to file a complaint about an employee of the Los Angeles Police Department, please follow the instructions below.
All complaints of misconduct are accepted, including those made anonymously. You may use one of the complaint forms that can be found in multiple languages at the bottom of this page, though the form is not required. Complaints may be filed with either the OIG or LAPD.

To file a complaint with the OIG, you may:
• Visit our office in person. We are in the World Trade Center, in Downtown Los
Angeles. Address: 350 S. Figueroa Street; Suite 1002; Los Angeles, CA 90071
• Call the OIG.
Phone: (213) 893-6400
TTY: (213) 482-7002
• Send us a Fax.
Fax numbers: (213) 687-7473; (213) 687-7487; or (213) 687-7493
• Email us at oigcompl@lapd.online
• Send us a message via our mobile application, which is available via both Apple
Store and Google Play.
• Mail us a letter at the office address designated above.
• Request to speak with OIG staff at a public meeting of the Los Angeles Board
of Police Commissioners.
• Send us a message via our Facebook page.
• Send us a message via our Twitter profile.
• Comment on our Google Business profile.
To file a complaint with LAPD, you may:
• Call the LAPD’s complaint hotline: 1-800-339-6868TDD 213-978-3500 or send
email to LAPDCMS@LAPD.ONLINE
• Ask to speak to a supervisor at any LAPD station.
• Visit the Internal Affairs website or click on the Complaint Form links below.
• Visit any LAPD Community Police Station and speak directly with an LAPD
supervisor, regardless of where the incident occurred.
Additional Complaint Process Information:
You may also contact your local council district office to file a complaint. Complaints of
misconduct are investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Internal Affairs Group. The Office of the Inspector General can oversee and review all complaint investigations.”

ALSO email the California representatives in Congress.  Email the mayors and Governor. Email the LA City Council.  If you are a voter in their district, let them know.  They work for you.  Make them listen to you.  Show them you’ll remember at the next election if they ignore this.

You can bet I will be doing all of the above.  We need to make meaningful noise here.  Without our advocacy, they will assume we deserve this abuse in the future–even though it clearly is shown to violate disability rights laws.  

3) Find ways to speak out on your own social media pages about Joshua’s mistreatment (and mistreatment of other people in our community).  I have been sharing resources, videos, and action steps.  You can use those, and you have my permission to share them.

4)  Keep an eye out for the verified and legitimate gofundme accounts of protesters with disabilities.  They need help paying for bail, equipment repair, and medical bills following protests.  Some may ask, “Why go to the protests if it’s so risky?”  People who want to create change and support the equality of Black people, including Black people with disabilities–can do so in a variety of ways.  Think of how brave it is though, for those who choose to go to the inaccessible protests.  This is not the only way to help, but it should be just as much an option for a person with a disability as it is for an able-bodied citizen.  I’ll share info on my social media pages (@ashleybjacobson on Instagram, @legallyabled on Twitter) when I find them.

If you need help with anything, let me know.  Email me at legallyabled@gmail.com.  Message me on Instagram.  Comment on any posts with questions.  I’d hate for you not to act because something is in your way.  Let me know if I can help remove any barriers in your advocacy process.

 

 

 

Michigan Bar Exam Discrimination: My Experience

In February 2019 I took the Michigan Bar Exam.  This is not a tale of a disgruntled student who failed.  This is the account of a woman (me), who passed the test despite severe and persistent discrimination.

Below is the letter I sent to the individuals named in an effort to prevent this treatment from ever happening again to the many law students with disabilities. This matters–not because it happened to me, but because we have no reason to believe it will ever change without taking a stand.  I didn’t publish this until now for many reasons.  I was emotionally healing from the events.  I was deciding the best way to implement change and considering all of the methods for doing so.  I was trying to find a job and am aware that employers still aren’t completely understanding that people with disabilities are smart and sufficient employees.  Life went on and I immersed myself in all of the opportunities I earned.  Then, this morning it hit me that 2020 is steadfastly approaching, and students are prepping for the February 2020 bar exam now.  Those students deserve equal treatment under the law.  They deserve better treatment than I received.  So, here it is.  Please be kind, because it’s not easy to share.

This is the letter I wrote and submitted, detailing what happened:

“To the Board of Law Examiners, Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and any other interested party:

My name is Ashley Jacobson.  I graduated law school in two years, at the top of my class, magna cum laude.  I have a master’s degree from the #1 ranked university in rehabilitation counseling (Michigan State University).  Rehabilitation counseling is a field devoted to counseling individuals with disabilities by teaching empowering skills and strategies that enable their highest levels of achievement and independence.  I graduated with an overall 4.0 GPA in undergraduate and graduate school.  I am nationally certified as a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC).  I have worked for a large university and non-profit organizations as a disability and accommodations specialist.  I have started two successful non-profit organizations of my own.  I am also a person living with a physical disability.

On February 26th and 27th of 2019, I sat for the Michigan bar exam in Lansing, MI.  In all of my experience counseling individuals with disabilities, working in the disability field for over a decade, working as an accommodations and disability specialist, I have never witnessed the level of discrimination against a person with a disability equal to what I experienced on the days of the Michigan bar exam.

I was prepared for the test itself.  I studied for 10-12 hours each day leading up to the exam for months.  I made materials my entire 2 years of law school in anticipation of the bar exam.  I had the grades, the abilities, the focus, and the determination to pass this exam on my first attempt—which I did, despite all of the discrimination and hurdles placed in my way by the Board of Law Examiners.  Months before the exam, I submitted all necessary medical documentation and was approved for accommodations.  Attached is the letter I received on November 28, 2018 approving the accommodations as listed below.  To note, accommodations are changes in approach, not changes in standard.  Accommodations are not meant to “level the playing field,” as that phrase is used today.  Accommodations are methods that allow the student to display their abilities without the unnecessary barriers inflicted upon them in average testing conditions.  I received the following accommodations, as approved by the Board of Law Examiners:

  1. A private room, close to a restroom.
  2. 30% additional time for each session of the bar exam.
  3. The excusal from having to use a scantron, with my marking the answers in a way that I am able (circling) and a scribe (the proctor) to fill in the scantron per my marked answers.
  4. The ability to bring in acid-reduced water, medications and medical supplies.

From this point forward, I will list the number of ways I was penalized and discriminated against.  I will then explain in detail how I was penalized on the basis of having a disability and how, as such, my rights as an individual with a disability were infringed upon.

I was discriminated against in the following ways:

  1. As a student with a disability, I was penalized with excessive noise not inflicted upon students without disabilities.
  2. I was penalized by being given the incorrect finishing time for the afternoon portion of the essay section of the exam.
  3. I was penalized for being a student with a disability by the exam administrators, who did not plan for my proctor to act as a scribe in accordance with my accommodations.
  4. I was penalized as a student with a disability by facing a blatantly discriminatory and inappropriate confrontation from an exam administrator at the start of a testing session.

First, as a student with a disability, I was penalized with excessive noise not inflicted upon students without disabilities.

On the 26th, the first day of the exam—the essay portion—I arrived early at the Lansing Convention Center.  My classmates and fellow bar exam takers were at one end of the conference center, where it was isolated and quiet.  There were no other events taking place where the students without disabilities were testing.  I found my private room, which did have a restroom in it, at the other end of the conference hall.  I was testing in a room labeled the “First Aid Room,” and the Lansing Conference Center security staff informed me the hall consisted of several First Aid Rooms throughout the facilities.  My First Aid Room, where I was to be testing seven to eight hours each day, was directly next to a professional party for the Farm Bureau’s 100-year anniversary, attended by 400 individuals celebrating with loud music over the speakers, a booth set up outside of my testing room, news interviews right outside of my small room, food and drinks.  Evidence from news coverage and a facility map corroborate my detailed account of the events.

Students without disabilities were not exposed to excessive noise, yet I was interrupted repeatedly because of poor planning on part of the exam administrators that greatly affected my ability to put forth the same effort as those without disabilities.  I was wearing ear plugs, but could still hear full conversations between individuals shouting and partying outside of my room.  My proctor left several times to ask them to be quiet, and when she returned, she said verbatim, “Yeah, they just said it was their 100 years and didn’t really care.  Sorry.”

At the conclusion of the morning testing session, the proctor told me that she could find me another room, but that (as a direct quote) they “would not be able to provide all of [my] accommodations because it probably wouldn’t have a bathroom close by.”  My additional testing time was calculated based on the exam coordinators’ planning for me to have quick access to a restroom, so I was hesitant to move rooms and not receive my accommodations.  Most importantly, I need a restroom close by because of the medical treatment I am undergoing which causes sudden nausea, vomiting, and restroom usage.  Also, once accommodations are approved, they cannot just be taken away.  It was my right to receive these accommodations so as not to be discriminated against under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  However, the bar coordinators thought their poor planning justified removing my accommodations on the day of the biggest exam of my life.  Further, as a member of a protected class I was given disparate treatment based solely on my disability.

I said to the proctor that I needed all of my accommodations, so if that could not be provided in another room, moving to another room was not really an option.

I then attended a lunch held by my law school during the break in between the morning and afternoon testing sessions on the 26th.  At that lunch I explained what happened to my Constitutional Law Professor, Christi Henke, my Intro to Law and Academic Resource Center professor Jeanette Buttrey, and Julie Mullins, who administered my testing accommodations throughout law school.  They were just as shocked and upset as I was.  They stated that the Board of Law Examiners and testing administrators do not have a choice but to provide my approved accommodations which luckily, I knew because of my background and education, and that for the multiple-choice section the next day (if not sooner), I absolutely needed to have them move me somewhere quiet and provide all of my accommodations.

On my way back to my testing room, I stopped at the Farm Bureau’s party booth to ask if they would be there all day.  They were there until 6 p.m., my entire testing day.  They also told me that the conference had been scheduled for several months—the 2020 conference is already scheduled at the facility for next year.  The administrators of the exam saw no issue with putting a person with a disability at a disadvantage, surrounded by excessive noise.  They saw no problem with subjecting me to barriers not placed in the way of students without disabilities.  Regardless, I knew I needed to get through the next session and try my hardest to focus on the task at hand.  I worked too hard to let this completely derail my success, so I tried to “buckle down and push through it.”

Second, I was penalized by being given the incorrect finishing time for the afternoon portion of the essay section of the exam.

At the start of the testing session I put anything I had away as instructed.  My proctor started the session and stated I would be finished at 4:40 p.m.  I said, “Okay, so 4:40 p.m.?”  and the proctor confirmed, “Yes, 4:40.”  I then calculated and organized a specified amount of time for each essay based on the end time given to me by the proctor, and began the last five essays of the day.

The proctor left the room a few times once again, which I assumed was to ask the people outside of my door to be quiet.  Imagine my surprise, at 4:05 pm, when I was given a 15-minute warning and still on essay three out of five.  I stopped and asked, “wait, I only have 15 minutes?”  The proctor said (verbatim), “Oh yeah, so when I left the room it was because I realized they wrote down the wrong time for you to end so I tried to give you a 30-minute warning when I came back in after confirming their mistake but I was worried because I could tell you didn’t hear me because you were trying to tune out noise.”  I had to rush and write down anything I could on the last three essays, until I was abruptly cut short.

The most frustrating thing was looking at those last three essays specifically, knowing I had so much more I could write, knowing the material they were looking for in an answer, and watching those points slip out of my grasp because of the testing administrators’ “mistake.”

I also will add that in my time of working in the disability field, working at MSU in the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities, and taking several tests with accommodations, including the MPRE, messing up the time like this does not happen to exam administrators who have prepared even the most minimal amount, because testing times are the easiest element of accommodations to plan.   Giving a student with a disability the incorrect finishing time is not a small mistake—it is a disservice and barrier only faced by students with disabilities who rely on the times given to us.

When I finished, I asked the proctor, “Are they not used to accommodating students with disabilities or something?”  The proctor responded, “Yeah sorry again, the lady who normally does the testing accommodations is retiring so it’s a new person and they’re still figuring everything out.  Hopefully you finished.”  I didn’t.

I told the proctor that I needed to be moved to another room for the multiple-choice section.  I explained my professors’ rationale to the proctor by stating, “Multiple choice questions require an even higher level of focus, because the questions are written with details leading you to the wrong answer, so you have to dissect and identify to pick the correct answer.  I couldn’t risk reading the questions over and over like I was forced to with the essays based on the noise.  I needed to focus.”  The proctor said she would work on finding me a new room.

On February 27th, I returned to the Lansing Convention Center.  On my way in, I saw a dean from my law school, Dean McDaniel.  I explained what occurred the day before, and he said that I should talk to someone about that and that I should let him know if I run into trouble but he was not sure there was anything he could do.  I ran into Julie Mullins.  She walked over with me to my private testing room, where we waited because I had not been told what room I was moved to yet.  When the proctor arrived at my old room (the First Aid Room) at 8:30 a.m., she took me to a large banquet room directly next door to the students without disabilities.  It was private, but the restroom was many times further away from where I was sitting as the restroom was in my old room (I timed it prior to testing: the First Aid Room restroom was five seconds from my seat, the restroom in my second room was three minutes away from my seat—which in multiple choice context is a major issue).  This would not have been such a problem, except for the fact that the additional time I was given in my approved accommodations was calculated based on the examiners knowing I would not have to make that length of a trip to the restroom.  I was not afforded time to make up for this added barrier.

However, I realized that this was the best I was going to get.  Julie Mullins explained to the proctor that we were upset in how I was treated the day before.  The proctor admitted to all of the aforementioned events I specify in this statement, and Julie stated we needed written documentation stating these events occurred.  The proctor stated she did tell the director, so it had been noted, but Julie insisted that I receive written documentation about the noise and being given the incorrect finishing time.  The proctor was defensive in her tone, but agreed to provide the documentation.  I reiterated to the proctor that I understood that any issue I was facing with my accommodations was not her fault, but we do need to address them because it is not allowed to treat students with disabilities in this way.  Julie also made sure to ask that people would not be walking through the room I was in while testing, as walking on those floors was very loud (they were concrete and women in heels could be very distracting), and the proctor said, “They shouldn’t.”  They did.

Throughout my multiple-choice testing sessions (both morning and afternoon), I had several people walk into and through my testing area, some talking loudly, not realizing I was testing in there because they had me behind curtains squaring me off in the middle of the large conference room.  The proctor did her best to jump up and ask people to be quiet when they came in, but it was distracting.  I counted the first seven times this occurred, but after that I lost count because I was trying to focus on complex multiple-choice questions.

Third, I was penalized for being a student with a disability by the exam administrators who did not plan for my proctor to act as a scribe in accordance with my accommodations.

The most egregious discrimination was with regards to my accommodations relating to the scantron.  On the multiple-choice section of the bar exam, students fill in their answers on a traditional scantron sheet, bubbling in their selections.  My physical disability causes severe hand tremors.  It is a systemic response to the symptoms of my autoimmune disease, and anyone who has ever taught me or taken a class with me can attest to this (in addition to my team of doctors at the University of Michigan).  In law school, they did not use scantron sheets so this was not an issue.  For the MPRE they did use scantron sheets, but they provided the accommodation of me marking a page in a different way instead of filling in the bubbles of a scantron answer sheet.

For the bar exam, I was approved for the accommodation of marking the answer in my answer booklet and having the proctor, a scribe, fill it in for me on the scantron.  The best way I can explain this hurdle is that, for a student without a disability, imagine you have to take the biggest exam of your life, eight hours long, but you can only write on the scantron holding the pencil in your mouth and not using your hands.  That is what it feels like when a student with hand tremors is forced to bubble in a scantron—it is an extreme disadvantage.

There was one major problem—the bar exam coordinators completely forgot to plan for my proctor to be my scribe.

At the start of the multiple-choice section, my proctor started explaining the steps for getting started and I inquired as to whether she was supposed to be my scribe or if a scribe was coming.  She said, “You’re supposed to have a scribe?  You can’t fill in the scantron?  I have no info on that.”  She sighed and walked away.  When she returned, she stated, “They said I could just fill it in for you. But you have to bubble in the name and stuff on the scantron.”  As I was bubbling it in, it took me several minutes, holding my writing hand with my non-writing hand to try to steady it enough to mark it correctly.  The proctor stated, “Oh, so you can fill in a scantron.”  My ability to fill in the scantron was not the point—the point was that it took me several times longer than students without disabilities because of my disability.  I pointed that out to her, and we moved on and I started the multiple-choice questions.

At the end of the morning session I handed her my test booklet, in which I circled my answer selections.  The proctor took my test booklet and the scantron.  I asked if I would be able to confirm that she filled in my answers correctly, which of course I explained meant nothing against her, but that human error happens and this exam is a big deal.  She said she would ask.  Ultimately, I was not allowed to confirm that the answers I selected in the booklet were selected on the scantron for me.  I was frustrated because I had no idea if another human, though well-intentioned, could mistakenly mark my scantron.  Students without disabilities know their selected answers are being marked the way they intend on the scantron.  Apparently, students with disabilities have to put their faith in a stranger.

During the lunch break on the second day I made my way to my law school’s luncheon and explained to Julie Mullins that yet again, my accommodations had been improperly planned and executed (or not planned at all) and Julie was just as exasperated as I was.  A representative from my school contacted the head proctor, who explained that my use of a scribe should be continued as follows: I would select my answer, the proctor would fill in the bubbles as I did each question, and if I had time at the end, I could double check the scribe’s bubbling.  This is still discriminatory, as being able to check for another human’s error is something students without disabilities do not have to worry about, but it was uniform with other students needing the same accommodation for the same reasons for the bar exam so I was told that was how I was to conduct the afternoon section.  These instructions lead to the last major way I was penalized solely based upon being a student with a disability.

Fourth, I was penalized as a student with a disability by facing a blatantly discriminatory and inappropriate confrontation from an exam administrator at the start of a testing session.

The events I am about to describe to you (like everything detailed in this letter) are not an exaggeration. This is word-for-word, action-for-action what happened next.  I returned to my testing room after lunch.  The proctor returned and shortly before 2 p.m. we started to prepare for the last testing session.  I asked her if the head proctor had talked to her about the accommodations for the scribe situation and explained what I was told about how I should continue per the steps outlined a couple of paragraphs above.  The proctor sighed, said, “I’ll be back,” and left hurriedly out of the room.

She returned two minutes later with another woman, who had the first name of Maribeth, and was later identified to me by the proctor as Maribeth Preston.  The older woman approached my desk while I was sitting, with her standing above me.  She said, “So this is what’s going to happen.  I’ve been doing this job a long time and I’m in charge.  You’re saying the proctor is supposed to bubble in things as you go.  That’s not how it works.”  I explained, “A representative from my school spoke with the head proctor about this, and said that was how it was supposed to work so that’s the only reason why I asked her (the proctor) about it.”

The woman stated, “I don’t know who they talked to, but clearly you’ve been misinformed.  I’ve worked this job for a long time.  That’s not how accommodations work.  You’re saying you can’t fill in a scantron?”  I explained about my hand tremors and my accommodations that were approved months ago.  I said, “I submitted paperwork and medical documentation months ago and my accommodations were approved then by the state bar people—” she cut me off, “well, we’re not the state bar people.” I explained, “Well it was the board of law examiners, or whoever, but I went through the proper channels to get accommodations for the bar exam and they were approved.  Since I started this test, I have not received all of my accommodations, and I have been penalized in ways students without disabilities are not.”

She actually rolled her eyes upward and repeated, “So you’re really saying you can’t fill in a scantron?”  I said once again, “No, I can’t.”  She continued, “You say you got approved for accommodations, do you have the paper with you showing that?”   This stranger, claiming to have worked in this position for years, was making me justify not just my accommodations, but also my disability, on the day of the exam, at the start of a testing session.  What made this more upsetting was that this woman was the same woman who signed the letter approving my accommodations. 

I said, “I was told I could not bring any other paper with me besides my admission certificate, and no I cannot fill in a scantron for the exam, which is why I was approved for the accommodation months ago.”  She said, “Well what you’re asking for, you needed accommodations approved, because everyone is different. And, that’s not how accommodations work.”

I informed her, “I know how accommodations work.  I worked as a disability and accommodations specialist before law school, I have my master’s in disability counseling, I worked in this field in this job and I know not only am I not getting my accommodations but I am also being discriminated against solely because I have a disability and this is unacceptable.”

The woman rolled her eyes upward again and lifted the one corner of her mouth and looked at the proctor.  I continued, “Yesterday I dealt with noise that students with disabilities did not have to deal with, yesterday I was given the incorrect finishing time and then cut off which students with disabilities did not have to deal with, today I was moved to a room further from the bathroom without accounting for the time difference it would take for me to walk there and back, and today I was not provided a scribe until I demanded one and then now I’m being told not only do I not get to use a scribe appropriately but I have to put my faith in a stranger that my scantron is being marked correctly…”

The woman cut me off and said, “Well the proctor doesn’t fill it out.  There’s two people behind the scenes that fill it out and I check it.”  I’d like to note that the attached letter approving my accommodations specifically states that the proctor fills out the scantron.

I stated, “No one explained that to me, but it still doesn’t account for human error.  Students without disabilities don’t have to worry that their answer selections are going to be mismarked by a complete stranger.”  We went back and forth in this same conversational circle for several minutes.

The woman stated with a harsh tone of voice again, “So you’re really saying you can’t fill in a scantron?”  I realized at this point that I was being judged, and nothing I could say would make this process just.  She continued, “Well, this is how it works, and the proctor will do this the way I am saying, and if you are saying you can’t fill in a scantron—” as tears welled up in my eyes from frustration I cut her off and said, “You could’ve sent the proctor out here to explain to me that this was not how it was going to work, but instead you came out here to argue with me and frankly, your presence here is counterproductive to me doing my best on this exam so I would like you to leave, because now I have to do 100 multiple choice questions.  I am going to take the test now, and I will file complaints and whatever else necessary after the exam is over.  But I need to focus on this test, and you are hindering my ability to do that.”

As I burst into tears, the woman left.  I looked at the clock.  She had come out to talk to me at 2 p.m., it was now 2:19 p.m.  This woman had come to argue with me, for no other purpose than arguing and belittling me, for nearly 20 minutes at the start of my testing session.  Students without disabilities did not have to face rude, humiliating confrontation for nearly 20 minutes at the start of their last testing session, before having to complete 100 multiple choice questions.

The proctor said, “Listen, I get it, if you need to take a few minutes to walk around to refocus you can.”  I went into the hallway, and unfortunately no one from my school was there anymore—the halls were now empty.  I went into the bathroom in the outside hallway, cried for four minutes, looked in the mirror and determined that no matter what, even if it was not my best work, I had to finish.  I worked too hard to give up because of the test administrator’s ignorance, discrimination, and lack of preparation.

I realized this was it, and no matter how many hurdles were in my path I needed to just do the best I could with the circumstances I was given.  What other choice did I have really?  The woman who came out stated that she was the one in charge, so I couldn’t exactly speak to her boss.

I returned to my desk.  I sat down, and finished the exam.  I had a difficult time even reading the pages because I was crying.  But I finished, and only by the grace of God and substantial preparation on my end—I passed.

I paid a lot of money to take this exam.  I put in a lot of time and energy to prepare for it.  With my health issues, I even had to physically train so that I would be able to physically make it through the test.  My disability was something I overcame repeatedly throughout graduate school and law school.  In law school I had three separate surgeries take place the week before or the week of final exams.  I was at the top of my class despite undergoing chemotherapy, despite having my medical device malfunction, despite hospitalizations and surgeries.

I shouldn’t need to justify myself in order to receive a non-discriminatory environment, but nonetheless I feel the need to reiterate that I am a smart woman.  I am not asking for special treatment.  I am asking for the opportunity to showcase my abilities without discriminatory barriers inflicted upon me or any other students with disabilities.  I am asking for the opportunity to display to all of the wonderful professors who assisted me throughout law school, who supported me through each health hurdle, that our hard work together meant something—it meant with their help and my persistence I could be a lawyer.  I made it through this, but too many students with disabilities do not.  They are denied every year for accommodations because without them the Board of Law Examiners says they can function at the average level of people without disabilities.  The point of an accommodation is not to be average.  An accommodation is removing unnecessary barriers so a person can show their true  ability.

The behavior of those “in charge” is an alarming display of how students with disabilities have been treated for a long time in this field.  I am demanding equal protection under the law.  I am demanding not to be discriminated against for having a disability.  I am demanding compliance with the ADA, not just for me but for all students with disabilities in the future.

I have worked as a disability advocate for years, and even my law school is well aware of my advocacy for students with disabilities while in law school.  I have seen my counseling clients mistreated, but never have I witnessed a test administrator mock in disbelief a person’s disability.  The tone of voice, the repeated questioning of my disability, the lack of preparation in planning the execution of accommodations, and the unwillingness to conform with the law was flagrant and unacceptable.  I was not able to do my best work because of these hurdles.  Even me, the disability counselor, was not prepared to face what I faced on those two days because it just did not seem in the realm of possibility for this to happen to me—until it did, over and over.

Students without disabilities already face stress, pressure, fear, fatigue, and brain fog for the bar exam.  It is grueling.  I expected that.  But students with disabilities deal with all of those things, plus the many hurdles placed in their way by exam administrators and proctors.  On my way out of the last testing session I ran into another student who had just finished the bar exam.  She was upset, and we started talking about our experience.  She told me first, that she was a student with a disability who was not given the view of a clock during testing because of the way they situated her for her accommodations—which is monumental for the bar exam when we are not allowed to bring in watches of any kind.  Out of respect for this student’s confidentiality I will not disclose her identity.  Her choice to disclose her experience is her own to make, but I wanted to include her in this because I am certain that I am not the first student with a disability to receive prejudicial treatment.

The passage rate on the bar exam is already somewhat low, and those who pass need many things to go right in order to do so.  Students with disabilities have a higher bar—they must make many things go right when everything around them is going wrong.  I have had people tell me that my concerns and advocacy aren’t necessary if I passed.  I could not disagree more.  It matters regardless of the outcome.  The Americans with Disabilities Act was violated.  Members of a protected class are being mistreated by leaders who have no interest in reforming this system.  This is discrimination, and it cannot be accepted in a field devoted to just treatment under the law.

My urgent recommendation is that the Board of Law Examiners be held accountable for this atrocious discriminatory treatment, that a new Board of Law Examiners Director be nominated by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and that this new appointee have actual experience and expertise in disability rights and accommodations.  A perfect candidate would be a person who has a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling, is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC), and also has legal experience.  I would be happy to submit recommendations of specific individuals who are qualified for the position, or help in any other way to prevent this discrimination from occurring in the future.

We cannot stand by while people with disabilities are stifled by prejudice.  We cannot accept discrimination, because to do so would be telling people with disabilities they are not worthy of respect, dignity, opportunity, or equal rights under the law.

Thank you,

Ashley Jacobson, Esq., MA, CRC

Disability Rights Attorney, Advocate, and Accommodations Specialist”

My Request to MI Governor Gretchen Whitmer

In February I was the victim of severe, blatant disability discrimination and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The person who wronged me was nominated by the past governor of Michigan and appointed by the Supreme Court. In an effort to file a complaint against this high-level government employee, I have discovered that the jurisdiction of who can receive my complaint is limited but includes the Governor. I voted for Gretchen Whitmer, @gewhitmer on Instagram, after hearing her speak at the first Women’s March in Lansing, MI before she was elected. She spoke about the importance of diversity, community involvement, and listening to others.
Now I hope to work with Governor Whitmer, my governor, to prevent this type of discrimination from ever happening again in our state and country. I’ll keep reaching out to her office until we have the opportunity to discuss these issues and my evidence-based ideas for resolving them, which are grounded in my work as a disability expert. It’s 2019, and yet even as a disability expert and counselor I was shocked to experience the discrimination I faced solely because I am a person living with a physical disability. We cannot accept discrimination because to do so would be telling people with disabilities they are not worthy of respect, dignity, or opportunity.
•[image description for those using screen readers: a picture of the banner of a website showing Ashley Jacobson’s request to voice a concern to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s office has been submitted. Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s picture is at the top of the photo, and she is a white woman with brown, shoulder-length hair who is wearing a navy shirt under a red blazer. She also is wearing a very classy pearl necklace. Next to her picture to her right is the text, “Governor Gretchen Whitmer,” and to the right of that is a small outline of the state of MI and “Michigan.gov” with a light picture of a bridge behind that.]
Self-Determination: how to love, but empower your loved one with a disability

Self-Determination: how to love, but empower your loved one with a disability

Self-determination is a tricky process for people with disabilities because it operates on a continuum.  Life is unpredictable, and for the most part–so is disability.  But, with self-determination, the person with a disability can regain some level of control and dictate the choices and direction of her life.  Self-determination is a concept where a person has the  confidence and ability to decide and move forward with the best, next-steps in his own life.  Not what you or I think is best, but what they want for their own lives.  For many, especially those with disabilities, well-meaning loved ones have in a lifetime of protecting the person with a disability (PWD), have actually kind of sheltered or unintentionally taken control over the life of the PWD.

It’s difficult for loved ones, and I understand that better than most.  I have been guilty of being a helicopter constantly propelling what I thought was best over the person I love with a disability.  It’s incredibly challenging to shut that off because you love that person and want what is best for them.  I know it may seem like I’m asking a lot for you to back down (or if you are a PWD, to take control)…but please, hear me out.

When I was a special educator, and then a rehabilitation counselor (CRC), I saw many students and young adults with disabilities that had their differences in ability.  They had skills that needed more developing, skills they were not capable of displaying, and skills that made them unique assets in the best way.  However, those unique-asset skills were often under-utilized because they had not practiced them independently on their own incentive or triggering.  For example, they could do really well in an interview after having practiced and trained, but they were going on job interviews below their skill level because someone (though again, well-meaning) told them this job would be “so good for you!”  Or, they were not going to job interviews at all because their loved ones were really (and understandably) nervous about them putting themselves out there and taking a massive step towards independence.

The biggest limitation in the life of any person is their own belief that they are limited.  Yes, of course individuals (with disability or temporarily able-bodied) have to be realistic.  I’m not saying someone who has never dribbled a basketball, or someone who has played in a community basketball league–has the skill to try out for the NBA.  But I am asking for you to not make assumptions about their abilities or limitations, because when you assume their limitations, they see themselves as inherently limited.  Really sit down with the person, and ask him what he would like to learn.  Ask him what skills are important for adults to possess.  Objectively think of the many skills he has already learned, and try to compare those to the skills he wants to learn.

I am not suggesting that anyone just shut down and remove themselves out of the PWD’s life in one clean break, no longer helping the PWD with anything.  It is a process, and of course you will never just be out of their lives–you love them!  Nonetheless, self-determination is learned and blossoms in an environment that encourages growth, independence, and inclusion.  This is one of the reasons why so many adults with disabilities phase out of the public education system, and wind up under-employed or unemployed.  Further, when students learn skills at school relating to independence, they lose those skills if they are not generalized and practiced in the home-environment.  And trust me, I completely understand that as a loved one of a PWD you are busy and have many, many responsibilities for yourself and your family.  That’s why I want to give you some tools and strategies for encouraging the independence of the PWD so that maybe it can at the same time lessen your work load and empower your loved one.

It is difficult for many people without disabilities to break down the appropriate steps in fostering and empowering independence in a PWD.  Every person is different, but here is an example of how one could foster the self-determination process in an adult with a disability (Also: You can reach out to someone who works in this field–like me!–if you want guidance on appropriate steps for a specific person…again, progress is a continuum with steps forward and steps back, and that is okay.  This does not have to happen overnight!).

Self-determination skills: Determining food choices

  1. Watch a cooking show on tv that discusses nutrition and healthy eating
  2. Practice cooking simple meals in the kitchen with the PWD, emphasizing safety and nutrition (boiling water for pasta, making pasta, cleaning up after making pasta, with canned sauce)
  3. The PWD cooks on his own while the loved one is not overseeing, but is in the general area in case the PWD has a question
  4. Show the PWD where to find coupons, and discuss how much food really costs
  5. Watch tv shows about the health effects of not eating nutritious (but don’t be too scary about it, especially if the PWD is someone who can get easily overwhelmed or experiences severe anxiety–in this case you can discuss food choices in terms that are not so daunting with regards to the health consequences)
  6. Have the PWD go to the grocery store with you and have him hold the list (if possible, have him read and check off the list as you go–if he is not able to read, that’s okay too!  You can sit with him and go through grocery store inserts, pamphlets, magazines, coupon clippings, etc.  Just cut those pictures out and make the list out of pictures.  You can even draw the pictures!)
  7. After practicing #6 a few times, and if he is safely independent in public (as in, won’t go with strangers, won’t give his money to strangers, isn’t a harm to himself or others), bring him to the grocery store and have him gather the food on the list while you wait at the front of the store with a book/magazine
  8. After practicing #7 a few times, practice money skills.  Discuss pricing of food and different ways you can make payment.  Go through #7 and at the end of each time you shop, have the PWD give the money for payment to the cashier.  If the PWD gets nervous, that’s normal.  You can go at times when the grocery store is less busy, or teach him how to use the self-checkout line, but ultimately practice will help him feel more comfortable.
  9. After practicing #8, and if he is safely independent in public, bring the PWD to the grocery store and wait in the car as he shops for the food on the list, and pays on his own.
  10. Have the PWD make the grocery list on his own, check it over to make sure it covers essential items that are financially-responsible choices.
  11. If not yet learned, teach the PWD transportation options like the bus.  Public transportation systems have disability-accessible bussing but the more inclusive the better (again, depending on the actual, realistic abilities of the PWD).  A PWD should live and operate in the least restrictive environment as appropriate.  It may take time, and it will be a little daunting for both you and the PWD, but that is a normal part of growing up and in time and with practice, he could gain much independence and allow more free time and balancing of responsibilities for you and your household.
  12. Have the PWD look up transportation options on his own, and then schedule it on his own, go food shopping, pay, and return home on his own.
  13. Combine steps 1-12.

Again, this is just a generic example.  Some of these steps can be combined or adjusted if the PWD is more advanced, or they can be broken down even more.  I’ve broken down the process of making a PB&J into nearly 60 steps before for a client with a disability.  The most important thing is that we don’t just give up and do something for a person with a disability simply because it’s the easier and quicker thing to do.  Sure, there may be days when you do not have time to pre-teach, teach, and re-teach.  When you do have time though, the best way you can love a PWD is by loving their independent drive and spirit.  After all, you cannot and will not always be around and in times of need the PWD should feel competent to do as much as he is capable.

This post does not come from a place of judgment.  I’ve been there, personally and professionally.  I know what it is like to see a loved one go through something difficult and have to maneuver life-changes after the fact.  This is just guidance on a tricky part about loving a PWD, and as always I am here if you have any questions!  Feel free to email me at legallyabled@gmail.com

 

Thank you for reading and sharing,

Ashley Jacobson, JD, MA, CRC

Disability Expert and Advocate

 

 

 

 

Law Students with Disabilities: disability and character and fitness

Law Students with Disabilities: disability and character and fitness

People with disabilities have proven over the years that they can achieve great academic and vocational success.  With the rapid increase in disability diagnoses, and the extension of academic resources and accommodations, students with disabilities are able to demonstrate their vast knowledge and abilities.  As such, our world is filled with high-achieving professionals with disabilities.

Unfortunately, professional systems haven’t caught up with the times.  Law students with disabilities face more discrimination than most professionals, because part of becoming a lawyer is passing the bar exam, and part of that process is passing the character and fitness portion.  Law students are forced to disclose disabilities (mental and physical) and at times medical records, to prove to strangers on the character and fitness evaluation team that they are of good moral character to represent others.  By requiring this information, the Bar is assuming that disability is a negative thing–something that students must attest to while proving that “despite their disabilities they can be great lawyers.”

But why does the Bar take that approach?  You see, if any person would be a great lawyer, of good character, it would be a person with a disability.  People with disabilities face challenges on a daily basis.  They are forced for long periods of their lives to adapt to hurdles thrown their way, and compensate for their differences.  They understand the ups and downs their clients face–because they have thrived in the face of stigma and discrimination–and they have succeeded in achieving their goals.  They have become accustomed to the unpredictability and are quick to problem solve.  People with disabilities are persistent and resilient by nature, and have worked incredibly hard to be respected in schools and the workplace.

But the issue of passing the character and fitness evaluation is terrifying law students with disabilities everywhere.  Because the thing is, you pay hundreds of thousands of dollars by the time you have finished your legal education, you work hard to ace your exams, you walk across that stage at graduation, and then months later, the state bar decides if you are of good character despite your disability.  This is on its face, discriminatory.

A law student at my law school (though at a different campus) is taking a monumental step in suing the Florida Bar based on its issues with his mental disability.  This is a veteran, who served our country by working with explosives, who our country deemed was of good enough character to defend our freedom.  Yes, like many veterans he came back from a deployment with a mental illness.  He dealt with life or death situations while deployed and it’s reasonable that someone in that vocation would return with mental illness.  Complicating matters further, he was going through a divorce–known as one of the most mentally straining processes for anyone.   Also like many veterans and others dealing with especially stressful and personal life issues, he coped for a period of time by drinking too much.

This student did the right thing by asking for and receiving help when he needed it.  He received treatment for adjustment disorder and substance use disorder from the VA medical center.  He has been actively going to therapy and maintaining his mental and physical health consistently for a long period of time.

So, in return for asking for help and consistently treating his understandable mental health concerns, when this veteran tried to find a different career serving this country in an alternative way (serving citizens with legal needs), the Florida bar creates a fury of discrimination armed with stigmatic attitudes.  They want him to pay thousands of dollars to provide even more medical documentation than he already submitted, and have him

This is an issue that needs to be resolved, and quick.  Because the ADA and other related laws dictate that people cannot be discriminated against because of their disability.  Disability is a protected class, a class of people who have been historically and systematically discriminated against.  For that reason, to right the historical wrongs, the ADA and IDEA and the Rehab Act all were created to dismantle this wrongful discrimination.  Yet, the ABA and state bar’s haven’t followed suit.

They have, however, tried to shield themselves from an ADA violation by “encouraging” state licensing boards to focus on the behavior of the law student instead of their diagnosis specifically.  However, it is frequent that behaviors can be explained by a specific diagnosis.  Without explaining the diagnosis, behaviors can seem confusing to a licensing board.  Notably, these licensing boards have infrequent experience with people with disabilities.

Law students with disabilities not only have to prove and substantiate their diagnoses to their law schools to receive reasonable accommodations, they have to do the same for the MPRE, the bar exam, and the character and fitness evaluation.  In this sense, they have the cards stacked against them.  They remove card by card, proving their character and persistence again and again, in hopes that when they graduate they have a seat at the table.  But often, the people who evaluate students with disabilities are hired to evaluate them against their peers without disabilities.  They say, “clearly if this student got As in law school, they don’t need accommodations on the MPRE/bar exam because even though this student received appropriate accommodations in law school, compared to the average Joe they still would’ve passed.”  The purpose of accommodations is not to pass or beat the average Joe.  The purpose of accommodations is that the student can showcase their knowledge in a way that others without disabilities can see. 

In this way, students with disabilities are being academically handcuffed by the very institutions that could benefit from their being accepted.  Lawyers with disabilities have the unique capability of empathizing with clients, lawyers, judges, etc. They have had to advocate for themselves and their peers repeatedly throughout their lives, and as lawyers advocate and are active participants in legal organizations.

People with disabilities live life differently–they don’t live life incorrectly.  For the state bar, the ABA, the MPRE evaluation committee, and law schools to assume that based on past challenges that were addressed by correct treatment, an individual is not of good character is discriminatory on its face.

Disability is one part of a person, it is not the whole person.  To not allow a student with a disability to become a lawyer after he addressed and treated his disability is just plain wrong.  Who can better serve clients going through hell, than a lawyer who went through hell and came out on the other side?

If the people evaluating individuals with disabilities for the character and fitness see a disability (mental or physical) as guilty of bad character, and make the student prove otherwise, the evaluators are not go good character themselves.

We need to encourage, accept, and support law students with disabilities.  However, to historical legal systems apparently that is too much to ask.  So at a minimum–just don’t discriminate.

Additionally, this level of discrimination discourages treatment.  If you seek help for mental illness, you could be denied your dream career–so you don’t get help.  Lawyers are known for heavy drinking and substance abuse.   It’s a massive problem in the profession, so much so that law schools are talking with law students about it at their orientations. In fact, if many lawyers practicing in the field for years had to be once again evaluated for their character and fitness, they would fail.  In this sense, the ABA and the state bar are not encouraging present or prospective attorneys to seek treatment out of fear of losing a career they worked so hard to obtain.  They are also denying respect and fair treatment to students with disabilities, most of which are young and haven’t had decades to prove their stability, but have this used against them that they haven’t been managing their condition long enough for the bar to determine them to be of “good character despite their disabilities.”

It’s time for change in the legal profession, despite the system kicking and screaming in an outdated protest.

 

 

 

To read more about the case referenced above and the ABA recommendations:

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ada_lawsuit_about_florida_bar_examiners_mental_health_requirements/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_email

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/house_urges_bar_licensing_groups_to_tread_carefully_when_asking_about_menta

 

Autism Awareness Month: Tips for Sharing while Caring :)

 

Happy Autism Awareness Month! 

Every year around this time I get the joy of seeing many of my friends and family sharing their enthusiasm and interest in disability advocacy and it warms my heart and makes it grow at least 10 times.  With that said, there are some things I want people to keep in mind when they want to share their support for those on the autism spectrum.

 

  1. Keep in mind person-first language. Someone is a boy/girl with a disability, or a boy/girl with autism, or a boy/girl who is on the autism spectrum.  It is not okay to refer to someone as “autistic” unless they say it is okay to do so.  The reason behind this: a person is not his label.  He is a person, first.
  2. Be aware of the organizations you are promoting, and their main messages. There are many organizations who have done wonders in increasing awareness about autism but some of the most well-known autism organizations do not sit well with people who actually have autism.  The reason behind this: there are major organizations that have an autism focus, that focus on researching to find a cure for autism.  To my students, clients, friends, and family on the spectrum this comes across like an insult.  One of my prior counseling clients put it best when he said, “saying I need a cure is saying there is something wrong with me.  I’m not like everyone else, but just because I’m different doesn’t mean being me is wrong.”
  3. Showing your support on-line and through social media is awesome. Including people with autism in your day-to-day life is even better.  Take steps to make your clubs, businesses, organizations, parties, and events inclusive to people with disabilities.  If you need help with this, shoot me an email!
  4. Keep an open mind. People present any difference or disability in a unique way.  For some, you might be very surprised to learn they have a disability.  For others, their disability may be more apparent.  It doesn’t mean they deserve more/less support or more/less understanding.  Autism (like most differences and disabilities) operates on a spectrum and is unique to the individual.  There is no right or wrong way to present your differences, but there are ways to help someone with a disability to acclimate to a new job, school, or social group.  There are also simple ways to show patience throughout your daily life with strangers because as the old saying goes: “you never know what someone may be going through.”
  5. Children with disabilities grow up to become adults with disabilities.  There are so many wonderful resources for people with autism and other disabilities, and I encourage you to look into great programs for adults who are on the autism spectrum.  In Michigan I have worked with the BOND Program at Michigan State University, ASPPIRE, and other amazing transition and vocational programs for adults who have autism.  There is such a need for more support of these programs.  People with autism can be capable, hard-working individuals that light up their communities and make contributions socially and vocationally.  Show your support for continued growth and opportunity by contributing to these programs!

With all that said, I am eternally grateful for the disability awareness taking place this month and as always commit to spreading awareness year round. Light it up blue!

 

Thanks for caring and sharing 😊

Ashley Jacobson, MA, CRC

legallyabled@gmail.com