I am a June 1999 University of Washington graduate who has Attention Deficit Disorder. I have struggled to prove my true potential through medication and accommodations in the academic setting. I am in desperate need of support regarding a struggle I am having. I was diagnosed in 1997 with ADD/ADHD and am currently taking medications. I received accommodations at the University of Washington which consisted of extra time on tests and a private room for the testing. I am about to apply to law school and have requested similar accommodations from the Law School Admission Council who administer the LSAT. I provided them with a report from a neurological diagnostician who stated that he believed after thorough testing that I would need similar accommodations when taking the LSAT. In addition, I sent them a long letter from my psychiatrist (who has taught at Harvard and Yale) and she stated the importance of the accommodations during the high stress/timed environment of the LSAT. I recently received a letter from the LSAC accommodations stating that they are denying my request and stated that my documentation provided no information that would require accommodations. In addition to the report, I sent them a report from the University of Washington which told of the accommodations I received there and all of the required forms that they listed on the accommodations request application. Before I began to have accommodations at the U of Washington, my grades were all C's...once I was diagnosed and began receiving the accommodations I had only A's and a few B's. I have also taken numerous LSAT prep tests and they have proven that under "standard" conditions I test in the lowest 23 percentile -- but when taking the test with accommodations I receive scores that average in the top 6-8 percentile of all those who take the test...this is a difference between Harvard and "no name" school. I have no idea what to do and am scared to death to take the test under "standard" conditions. I feel like I need to "prove" that I have a disability that I'm already insecure about. According to the ADA, I believe this is a direct crime in reference to title 3, section 309 which states that any private organization administering examinations for future education or licensing must abide by the ADA guidelines. I decided to write to you because I have consulted with dozens of people who have similar complaints about discrimination from the LSAC...the only problem is that we are recent college grads and have no money to pay an attorney hundreds of thousand of dollars for a lawsuit. I was hoping that you might take this situation into consideration as to a possible story on the issue. I would be honored to let the world know how such a company that is basically a monopoly (they are the only people who administer the LSAT and the LSAT is required if one plans to attend law school) can get away with discriminating against the disabled. Please help!

Lise

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