California court says would-be doctors don't have to be accommodated for med school exam

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

SAN FRANCISCO -- Would-be doctors in California with dyslexia or other disabilities that affect their reading skills aren't entitled to extra time or other accommodations on the medical school entrance exam, a state appeals court said Oct. 30, reversing a lower-court decision.

An Alameda County Superior Court judge had ruled two years ago that California disability law is broader than federal law and requires the organization administering the Medical College Admission Test to accommodate students who show that their disorders make reading difficult.

But the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said state law mirrors federal law on the subject - the American Disabilities Act - and gives the American Association of Medical Colleges leeway in deciding when a student needs assistance because of a serious learning disability.

A lawyer for disabled students in a statewide class-action suit said the association usually denies such requests by reasoning that anyone who has made it through college doesn't need any help on the entrance exam.

The association "has taken the position that if you work hard and if you're smart, you don't have a disability that warrants accommodation," said plaintiffs' attorney Joshua Konecky. He said his clients would probably ask the state Supreme Court to review the appellate ruling that "sets back the law on disability rights, disability access by about 30 years."

Robert Burgoyne, lawyer for the college association, said he was pleased that the court had agreed all questions of accommodation should be judged under the Americans with Disabilities Act, "which can be applied consistently across the country."

The association allows some students with learning disorders additional time and other assistance, like a separate room to reduce distractions, and puts a notation on their scores to inform medical schools that they needed help. Burgoyne said those students get into medical school at the same rate as others, according to the association's research, but Konecky disagreed.

About 37,000 students a year nationwide take the medical school exam, a common requirement for admission to the postgraduate program. Konecky said Judge Ronald Sabraw's 2006 ruling, which the appeals court overturned, would have helped between 50 and 100 California students each year.

The students who filed the suit in 2004 contended 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.

Their suit relied on California laws that define disability more expansively than federal law and set stricter standards for prohibiting discrimination. But the appeals court, in a 3-0 ruling, said those laws apply only when a disabled person is denied equal access to some public place because of a physical barrier or is subjected to intentional discrimination.

In this case, said Justice Henry Needham, the college association provides equal access to the exam rooms and administers its policies neutrally, without intentional bias.

The ruling is available at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/A117071.PDF.