New Article on Law Students with Disabilities

New on Westlaw: Jennifer Jolly-Ryan, Disabilities to Exceptional Abilities: Law Students with Disabilities, Nontraditional Learners, and the Law Teacher as Learner, 6 Nev. L.J. 116 (2005). From the introduction:

The aim of this Article is to help teachers, as learners, turn current teaching disabilities into exceptional teaching abilities. Section II of the Article provides a brief overview of the legal requirements for students with disabilities, including an overview of federal law most frequently invoked in civil rights cases involving law students and lawyers with disabilities. Next, Section III confronts the paralysis, lack of vision, and stereotypes that cause legal educators to focus upon the deficits and disabilities of students, rather than upon their unique abilities and talents. Section IV addresses the prejudices in law teaching and in the legal profession, which are significant barriers to students and lawyers with disabilities, and particularly to those with learning disabilities. Section V highlights the exceptional abilities and assets of law students and lawyers with disabilities. Some of the more common disabilities presented in the law school classroom are described in Section VI. Section VI also discusses how all students pay attention in class, retain information, and learn. Finally, Section VII of this Article advocates that accommodations for students with disabilities result in good teaching for all students. It emphasizes that there are "many roads to learning" and reiterates a well-known principle for good teaching; good teaching requires a respect for "diverse talents and ways of learning." Section VII also offers possible compensations, accommodations, and teaching strategies for diverse learning styles and a more inclusive environment, including law students with disabilities.