During my time in high school and college, I became familiar with various accessibility aids for students with disabilities. As an education major, I learned about teaching methods tailored to individuals with different disabilities, who simply want to navigate society like anyone else. That’s why it was so shocking to discover that Villanova University in Pennsylvania made it nearly impossible for a blind student to take the LSAT with her approved aids. Those tests are already difficult enough as it is, why would anyone want to make it even more difficult for someone who genuinely wants to move forward with this career path?
The above video stars Kaleigh Brendle, a student at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. She details her experience attempting to take an LSAT exam that she had scheduled in advance, giving all of her necessary accessibility aids in advance for approval. After the proctor for the first exam simply disregarded the fact that Brendle was blind, a new proctor was called to watch over the exam. If it wasn’t bad enough that the first proctor was removed, the second proctor didn’t even last ten minutes.
After wasting so much time trying to get things sorted, Brendle decided to call LSAT directly, and was connected to a person who was actually willing to help, connecting her to ProctorU, the company which the proctors were being contracted. However, instead of getting a third proctor, she as asked to reschedule her test because at this point, it was two hours after her scheduled start time.
Commenters replied with their thoughts, with many bringing up a similar, real-world issue, saying, “Just throwing in there that this, what she’s asking for, this is DEI. This is literally what DEI is. This is what republicans want to get rid of- accessibility for people who want to participate in society.”
Kayleigh was unable to take her test that day, and was unfortunately forced to reschedule. Now, we can only hope that she doesn’t face the same issues the next time she tries to take the LSAT. Her experience is honestly a fierce injustice against disabled citizens simply trying to integrate into a society not built for them.
