Students with dyslexia lose appeal for accommodations for med school entrance exams

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Would-be doctors with dyslexia or other disorders that impair their reading skills lost a state Supreme Court appeal Feb. 11 in their attempt to get extra time or other accommodations on the national medical school entrance exam.

An Alameda County judge had ruled in 2006 that California disability law requires the organization administering the Medical College Admission test to accommodate students who show that their disorders make reading more difficult.

But a state appeals court in San Francisco ruled last October that California law, like federal law, gives the American Association of Medical Colleges leeway in deciding when a student needs help because of a serious learning disability. The state's high court denied review of that ruling Wednesday, with only Justice Ming Chin voting to hear the case.

The students who filed a statewide class-action suit in 2004 said they had the knowledge and skills to succeed as medical students and doctors but were unfairly denied the additional time they needed to complete the test because of conditions like dyslexia and attention deficit disorder.

The college association said it should be allowed to decide such cases under a uniform nationwide standard. The association allows some students extra time and other assistance, like a separate room to reduce distractions, and puts a notation on their scores to notify medical schools that they needed help.

The students' lawyer, Joshua Konecky, said Wednesday's decision was "just one setback in a longer struggle." He said the college association usually denies requests for assistance by reasoning that anyone who has made it through college doesn't need help on the entrance exam.