Legal Question in Disability Law in Georgia
I am a law student with a disabliity and I receive accomodations including extra time on exams and a separate testing room without distractions. During finals, all was well until the last exam, the protor asked me to come early because she had somewhere to go, I stated that "I couldn't make any promises", she then stated that she would attempt to have the registrar proctor my exam, that didn't happen. I was actually 15 min late the day of my exam, she rushed me through, did not read the instructions with me, had me start the exam before we finished the procedure process, had to come back in after the exam started to give me a pencil and her last words before leaving the room were "Finish Early". Subsequently I have found that I was not suppose to utilize a outline that I have did use, I also "froze" on the exam and spent most of my two hours staring at the computr screen, in my opinion because of the chaos, confusion and the proctor repeatedly telling me that she had "somewhere to go"...is there anything I can do legally?? I am facing an F whether I get in trouble for having an outline or if the exam is graded because I wrote almost nothing, what legal standing do I have?
1 Answer from Attorneys
It really depends upon your disability, and many of the facts I suspect you did not give here. Half the story is it was the procter's fault because they did not accomodate you properly, and the other half is that you essentially cheated by using an outline you were not allowed to use. Additionally, you say you "froze" on the exam. It happens, I understand.
You are not going to be able to blame it all on any school. Every single law student has their own responsibility for learning the class, knowing where to be and when for the exam, knowing what materials you may bring to an exam, and performing under pressure. The school can't "reasonably accomodate" you to remove all stress and small anomalies in test taking circumstances -- which happen to non- disabled students as well.
I'm not trying to say you have no chance. But, you will have to appeal to the dean to see if s/he will allow you to retake the exam under your specific school's policies, which I would be willing to bet are compliant with federal and state ADA laws. If you are denied a re-take, I think you have to take your score just like everyone else.
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