Having a Disability in Law School
As a student with a disability, I’ve gone through my academic career knowing that I was different. But being different was my motivation to promote inclusive learning for students with disabilities. This proved to be a lot harder than it appeared to be on the surface and I started to realize that I was in for a bumpy ride.
I’ve never been ashamed or embarrassed to tell others that I have a disability, in fact, I’ve always been proud when telling my colleagues and professors. This isn’t the case for everyone, and it’s not the case for most students, especially in the legal field.
When I studied for the LSAT I decided to challenge myself and write without any accommodations, even though I was entitled to them. Throughout the process I continued to feel defeated not unlike many students who study for the LSAT. For me, this was a different kind of defeat. I felt like my disability was going to be the reason I wouldn’t receive any offers for law school. For so long I was so proud of being a student with a disability and just like that, I was starting to doubt myself. For the first time in my life, I thought of my disability as a hurdle rather than as a reminder that I was working even harder to achieve my academic success.
Fast forward, I did horribly the first time I wrote the LSAT. I remember at that moment, thinking to myself that maybe I should’ve tried to get accommodations. I felt like my disability was holding me back. The truth is it wasn’t. I wrote the LSAT a second time, a month later after writing the first time, and I scored 9 points higher. This isn’t to brag or hype myself up, but to say, anything is possible if you truly put your mind to it. It was at that moment, when I received my score for the second time, that I started to regain my confidence.
When it came time to complete my law school applications, I struggled with whether I should include that I had a disability in my personal statements. On the one hand, I had always been proud to discuss my disability, but on the other, I was worried. I had this preconceived idea that no law school would want to offer me a spot in their class of 2024 if I openly stated that I had a disability. I was wrong. All the ideas that I had about the application process and law schools in general were the opposite of my lived experience.
I made it. I’m proud to say that I’m a disabled Jewish woman in 1L at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law. Unfortunately, this was only the first hurdle. When I started school in September, I was perplexed by the process for law students with disabilities. In my undergrad I was able to speak openly with my professors about any accommodation requests whether they were in the classroom (i.e., in class participation) or assessments (i.e., tests and assignments). I was met with the complete opposite in law school.
Everything to do with my accommodations was done anonymously. I didn’t have to talk to any of my professors about my disability or my accommodations. I wondered why. I remember meeting with one of my professors after the first class. He used the Socratic method and called on me. The anxiety started to kick in and I lost all focus for the remainder of the lecture. When I asked to meet with him, I explained my concerns and was surprised by his response. I had expected him to say that this was inevitable and that I should get used to it. Boy was I wrong. My professor thanked me for sharing my experience and that I have a disability. I was confused and asked him why he was thanking me. His response: “Not many students feel comfortable sharing this kind of information with professors.” Then it hit me. I was in a field where being disabled wasn’t something many students were as open about. At that point, I decided that I wasn’t going to take that approach. I didn’t want to change who I was because of what other students were doing.
I’ve always loved being a little different, it’s what makes me who I am. I decided to open up to a few more professors and to my surprise, I was met with very similar responses to the first professor. I’ve always been an advocate for accessibility for those with disabilities and I wasn’t planning on letting that come to a halt because I was in law school. I’ve continued to advocate and have expressed my concerns through personal meetings with professors, administration, and as one of the 1L representatives for the Disability Student Law Society of Windsor (DSLSW).
I took my power back. I lost my confidence after my first attempt at writing the LSAT and during the application process, but I regained it when I realized that there’s no shame in being different. We’re all special in our own way, in the legal field and outside of it.
I share my experience in hopes that other law students with disabilities, both current and future, can learn from my mistakes. Law school can be a challenge with a disability, but if I’ve learned anything in my first year, law school is never without challenges. Students with and without disabilities have their own challenges, and that’s okay. It’s all a part of the process. I’ve started to find what works best for me when it comes to studying, reading, and taking notes in lectures. It takes some time, but it’s possible.
“I do not have a disability, I have a gift! Others may see it as a disability, but I see it as a challenge. This challenge is a gift because I have to become stronger to get around it, and smarter to figure out how to use it; others should be so lucky.” ― Shane E. Bryan
