The ADA & Department of Justice have issued a revised statement. Quotes seen below are from ADA.gov September 8, 2015.
If you are denied test accommodations by MCAT for any disability (i.e. ADHD, dyslexia, blind, diabetic, etc.), make a complaint to:
The Department of Justice:
http://www.ada.gov/filing_complaint.htm
Know the laws per ADA. Reposted 9/8/2015 by ADA as a notice to all testing entities must comply:
http://www.ada.gov/regs2014/testing_accommodations.html
"Standardized examinations and other high-stakes tests are gateways to educational and employment opportunities. Whether seeking admission to a high school, college, or graduate program, or attempting to obtain a professional license or certification for a trade, it is difficult to achieve such goals without sitting for some kind of standardized exam or high-stakes test. While many testing entities have made efforts to ensure equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities, the Department continues to receive questions and complaints relating to excessive and burdensome documentation demands, failures to provide needed testing accommodations, and failures to respond to requests for testing accommodations in a timely manner."
"
Exams administered by any private, state, or local government entity related to applications, licensing, certification, or credentialing for secondary or postsecondary education, professional, or trade purposes are covered by the ADA and testing accommodations, pursuant to the ADA, must be provided.1
Examples of covered exams include:
- High school equivalency exams (such as the GED);
- High school entrance exams (such as the SSAT or ISEE);
- College entrance exams (such as the SAT or ACT);
- Exams for admission to professional schools (such as the LSAT or MCAT);
- Admissions exams for graduate schools (such as the GRE or GMAT); and
- Licensing exams for trade purposes (such as cosmetology) or professional purposes (such as bar exams or medical licensing exams, including clinical assessments)."
"...a testing entity should generally limit its request for documentation to those one or two items and should generally evaluate the testing accommodation request based on those limited documents without requiring further documentation.
- Past Testing Accommodations. Proof of past testing accommodations in similar test settings is generally sufficient to support a request for the same testing accommodations for a current standardized exam or other high-stakes test.
- Past Testing Accommodations on Similar Standardized Exams or High-Stakes Tests. If a candidate requests the same testing accommodations he or she previously received on a similar standardized exam or high-stakes test, provides proof of having received the previous testing accommodations, and certifies his or her current need for the testing accommodations due to disability, then a testing entity should generally grant the same testing accommodations for the current standardized exam or high-stakes test without requesting further documentation from the candidate. So, for example, a person with a disability who receives a testing accommodation to sit for the SAT should generally get the same testing accommodation to take the GRE, LSAC, or MCAT. "
Further information:
Model Testing Accommodation Practices Resulting From Recent Litigation: http://www.ada.gov/lsac_best_practices_report.docx
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From U.S. Dept. of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Following currently applies to Law School Admissions Test, but likely has application to other admission tests (MCAT, GRE, etc.) and may have implications for other professional tests (Bar exams, Step exams, etc.)
Law School Admission Council to Implement Sweeping Changes to Testing Accommodation Procedures For Test-Takers with Disabilities
08/31/2015
On August 7, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California upheld significant changes to LSAC's testing accommodation policies and practices. The court's
decision upheld almost all the changes to LSAC's testing accommodation procedures recommended in a
report by a panel of experts created pursuant to a 2014 consent decree that resolved allegations under the Americans with Disabilities Act in
Dept. of Fair Employment & Housing (DFEH) v. Law School Admission Council, Inc. (LSAC), Case No. 12-1830--EMC (N. D. Cal). The District Court invalidated a limited portion of the recommendations (generally regarding timing for evaluating testing accommodation requests and how recent documentation in support of a request for testing accommodations based on mental or cognitive impairment must be) but upheld the bulk of the recommendations as written, including those that: categorize the type of documentation that will be sufficient for various types of testing accommodations requests, establish criteria for evaluating requests, require an automatic review by outside professionals before any request may be denied, and create an appeals process for those candidates whose testing accommodation requests are ultimately denied.
LSAC will implement the upheld recommendations starting immediately for testing accommodation requests related to the December 2015 LSAT administration and later administrations.
For more information about the Court's decision in
DFEH v. LSAC or the ADA, please visit our ADA website at
http://www.ada.gov/ or you may also call the Justice Department's toll-free
ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 or 800-514-0383 (TDD).
thanks y'all
