Oral Arguments to Begin in Federal Court on American Bar Association Discrimination Case

Voices of Disability

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

By JERRY WOLFFE
The Oakland Press

We never know the impact we’ve had on the lives of others or the world unless we get to see what would of happened if we were never born.

I think part of imaging what that would be like is why “It’s a Wonderful Life” with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed is one of my favorite movies.

In the 1946 film produced and directed by Frank Capra, Stewart plays George Bailey and Donna Reed is his wife, Mary.

George’s dream is to see the world. But he repeatedly sacrifices his dreams to help others. On Christmas Eve, his scatter-brained Uncle Billy loses $8,000 in bank funds.

The wealthiest man in town, Henry Potter played by Lionel Barrymore, finds the money and calls in police.

George takes the blame even though his uncle lost the money.

He ends up standing on a bridge, considering suicide when he hears someone else fall in the river. He jumps in and saves Clarence, an “angel second class” sent to Earth to help George. If Clarence succeeds, he will get his wings.

George wishes he was never born. Suddenly, the wind blows and the town is no longer Bedford Falls but becomes Potterville, a place filled with poverty, dance joints, bars and unsavory people. Most live in slums owned by Potter.

All the good that George had done in his life has vanished. Finally, George wishes that God would undo his wish and he will face the consequences.

Mary tells the town George needs help and everyone donates to help their friend and George ends up with plenty of money to make up for the banking shortage and avoids arrest.

He also realizes from a note Clarence wrote that “no man is a failure who has friends.”

There’s a parallel story going on now in Oakland County that is going to determine if any blind or visually impaired person will ever become a lawyer again.

Richard Bernstein, who is blind, was the last person admitted to law school without having to take the Law School Admission Test in 1996. Bernstein of Farmington Hills graduated from Northwestern University Law School in 1999.

Since then, Bernstein, 38, has fought via lawsuits for the civil rights of the disabled.

If he had not become a lawyer, the public buses in Detroit would never have working wheelchair lifts. The “Big House” in Ann Arbor would not be wheelchair accessible. There would be no safety precautions at roundabouts so disabled people can safely cross them. The Kindle electronic reading device would never have had an audio menu that makes it possible to use by the visually impaired. The airline industry would not have staff trained to make sure those with disabilities can travel safely, cruise lines would not have to be accessible and the Americans with Disabilities Act would have been gutted.

Bernstein stood up alone in each case and filed suits so that these entities recognized and accommodated the needs of the disabled.

This happened because law professors at Northwestern believed in Bernstein’s ability.

“I swore if I became a lawyer, I would effectively fight for the civil rights of those with disabilities so they are included in society and have the same rights as everyone else,” Bernstein once told me.

“We believe he will be a great lawyer and go on to do great things so we are waiving the LSAT” to allow Bernstein to go to law school at Northwestern, the faculty at the university said some 15 years ago.

Now, Bernstein has filed a lawsuit in federal court to require the American Bar Association to not require blind or visually impaired law school applicants to take the LSAT. The test weeds out the visually impaired and is discriminatory because it requires test-takers to draw diagrams and graphs — something impossible for someone who has a visual disability.

His client is Angelo Binno from West Bloomfield, a brilliant young blind man who speaks three languages, worked for the Department of Homeland Security and has repeatedly been denied admission to a law school because he did poorly on the LSAT because the logic games section that requires students to draw diagrams dragged down his overall score.

The ABA says since it is not administering the test, it is not responsible for the discriminatory content. But if a law school drops the LSAT as a criteria of a student being admitted, the school could lose its accreditation. That’s a huge hammer and no law school has fought the ABA.

But Bernstein has again stepped forward and has found a man he believes in Binno.

“I will fight for the civil rights of the disabled if I am admitted and graduate from law school,” Binno said to me, repeating the words Bernstein had sincerely said once before.

So if Bernstein wins this case, instead of one lawyer fighting for civil rights of  disabled Americans there will be Bernstein and Binno.

And, with the discriminatory LSAT tossed out for those who are visually impaired, there will be more lawyers who are blind who will likely focus on civil and human rights cases because they have felt the lash of discrimination and vowed to change things for the better for those who are most vulnerable in our society.

For anyone who wants to see the legal profession evolve, go to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6, in downtown Detroit to hear opening oral arguments before  the Honorable Judge Denise Paige Hood.

It just might be a chance to watch another page of history being written and an injustice righted.