Saturday, January 8, 2000, 06:52 p.m. Pacific
Computer wizard to fund lawsuit
by Roberto Sanchez
Seattle Times staff reporter
Steve Wozniak, who with Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer in 1976, has
offered to finance a lawsuit by a University of Washington graduate against
the agency that administers the law-school entrance exam.
Wozniak has agreed to give Lise Dorfsman $15,000 to $20,000 to pursue her
suit against the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). Dorfsman suffers from
Attention Deficit Disorder and bipolar depression.
She claims the LSAC discriminated against her by denying her more time and a
private room to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), standard
accommodations for people with mental disabilities.
Dorfsman planned to file her suit Dec. 22 but had to wait because she
couldn't afford the legal and travel costs. Wozniak's money will allow her
lawyer to file the suit next week in Pennsylvania.
"I'm so happy," Dorfsman said. "I just can't believe someone is going to
donate."
Dorfsman said she wrote letters and e-mails to hundreds of wealthy people,
including all those listed in Forbes Magazine's index of the 400 richest
people. Wozniak was the only one who offered to help.
Wozniak said he thinks Dorfsman has been mistreated by the LSAC, especially
after reading the e-mail exchanges between Dorfsman and the agency. "It was
really their letters that kind of incensed me, to see so many careless,
thoughtless letters," Wozniak said.
In e-mails provided by Dorfsman, LSAC representatives repeatedly question
Dorfsman's documentation and the extent of her illness.
Wozniak said he also has had experience with officials mishandling mental
illness.
His 17-year-old son recently had to get a diagnosis of depression from a
psychologist to be able to withdraw from an English class that he was
failing. He managed to take the class over in a local college and got an A.
Joan Van Tol, corporate counsel for the LSAC, said she could not comment on
Dorfsman's case or Wozniak's involvement, but she stressed that Dorfsman has
yet to file her suit.
Dorfsman claims her condition makes it difficult to concentrate and to manage
time, especially in stressful situations like a test.
She is requesting 50 percent more time and a private room to take the test,
accommodations recommended by her neurologist and psychiatrist.
She received these accommodations for her last two years at the UW, after she
was diagnosed. She graduated from the UW last year.
Dorfsman plans to take the LSAT today without accommodations, hoping she can
retake later it if she wins her suit.
Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company
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