Obstacles Be Damned

My best friend, Christine, just found out she has passed the Minnesota Bar Exam. I’m thrilled for her not just because she’s my best friend but because her achievement required overcoming some very tough obstacles.

First, she’s an older student, having passed the bar at 50. Second, she is legally blind making her achievement that much more remarkable. Christine has never let her “disability” stand in the way of anything, but it hasn’t been easy either. The law school she attended was slow to meet her needs of enlarged print. In some instances she never got the textbooks with enlarged print, but Christine didn’t let that stop her and read what she had to. Taking exams at another location on campus because of accommodations was often a guessing game - would the Procter show up? But she persevered.

Even after law school more obstacles popped up. Taking the Professionally Responsibilities examine, she was told by the test administrators they weren’t a printing house and couldn’t provide the exam in the large print. They could give her double time, but that wasn’t what she needed. The bar exam officials had no problem accommodating her and she passed with flying colors.

Christine has been my best friend for 25 years, so I’m used to her overcoming obstacles that to a lesser individual would seem daunting. Taking the bar under normal circumstances is extremely tough - a two day exam process in Minnesota that is unbelievably stressful. But she passed with flying colors. This is a woman who has kicked the concept of "disability" in shins as she went on to prove others wrong and succeed spectacularly. She is embarking on a completely new career endeavor and I have no doubt Christine will make one hell of an attorney.