Judge intervenes: law student temporarily allowed to use aids during exams
A judge has granted a law student at the UvA permission to temporarily use a reading aid and a digital statute book during exams. The decision follows after the university initially rejected the request because the student does not have a visual impairment.
A student in the bachelor’s program in Law is allowed to sit the upcoming exams using a reading aid and a digital statute book. This was decided on Friday by a preliminary relief judge of the Raad van State, after the examination board had initially rejected the request.
The student was diagnosed in 2016 by a psychotherapist with Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities (NLD), a learning disorder that involves difficulties processing information that is not presented through spoken language. Because of this condition, he submitted a request last October to be allowed to use accessibility accommodations during exams. The examination board refused the request, stating that reading aids are, under the rules, only available to students with a visual impairment. In addition, the use of a digital statute book would, in the board’s view, give the student an “unjustifiable advantage” over other students.
Lawsuit
In response to that decision, the student took the case to the administrative court and was provisionally ruled in his favor. The judge considers it plausible that the student has a functional disability and is of the opinion that the use of a digital statute book does not constitute an unfair advantage. To prevent possible “irreversible study delay”, he is allowed to use the aids during the upcoming exams.
A final ruling on the accommodations will follow later in substantive proceedings. Only if it is then determined that the student is indeed entitled to the accommodations will his exam grades be released.
