LSAC website to be fully accessible to blind

Blind people will have equal access to the Law School Admissions Council Inc.’s website under a settlement reached Tuesday with the National Federation of the Blind.

The council, a nonprofit that administers the Law School Admission Test and processes law school applicants’ academic credentials, will provide full access for the blind to its website by Sept. 1. The site will allow use of screen access technology, which converts words on the computer screen into synthesized speech or Braille.

The settlement extends to the whole of the council’s website, including the process of applying to law schools through lsac.org.

Daniel F. Goldstein of the Baltimore firm Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP represented the National Federation of the Blind in the matter. Goldstein, who said the lawsuit was filed in 2009, said the settlement will mean a “great deal” to his client.

“The only way now to get into law school is through online applications, and for the overwhelming majority of law schools, the only online application is through the LSAC website,” he said. “Having this website be fully accessible means blind people who want to go to law school don’t have to ask or pay someone to help them simply because the website had gratuitous barriers.”

The federation will perform accessibility tests of the site for a year, as part of the settlement.

In a news release, Marc Maurer, president of the Baltimore-based federation, said access to websites is critical for blind people in modern life.

“In this instance, access is especially critical,” Maurer said, “since without it blind people experience significant barriers to entering the legal profession.”

The lawsuit is part of an ongoing effort by the federation to make the Internet as accessible to blind people as it is to others.

The federation also filed a request for investigation with the Department of Justice against nine law schools that were using the LSAC website for their application process, according to the federation’s spokesman, Chris Danielson.

The DOJ is now working with the law schools to put in place plans for those schools to be compliant until the LSAC website is updated.

In a separate case, the federation announced a cooperative agreement with Ticketmaster to make its ticketing website fully accessible to the blind. The site will include screen access technology by the end of the year.