AAMC sued over medical school admission exam

Applicants with learning disabilities say they were denied needed accommodations.

By Myrle Croasdale, AMNews staff. Aug. 9, 2004.

Four medical school applicants with learning disabilities are suing the Assn. of American Medical Colleges for discrimination.

The students, who have conditions that include dyslexia and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, requested additional time and a room free of distractions while taking the Medical College Admission Test. They were told their conditions did not merit such accommodations, according to the lawsuit.

The AAMC, which administers the MCAT, said it was reviewing the lawsuit and that it was committed to providing appropriate accommodations on the MCAT to medical school applicants with disabilities.

Attorneys who filed the lawsuit in state court in California are seeking class-action status and expect a decision to affect medical school applicants with learning disabilities across the nation. The National Disabled Students Union and the International Dyslexia Assn. were also named as plaintiffs in the case.

Monica Goracke, learning disabilities access fellow with Disability Rights Advocates, is one of the attorneys representing the students. She said the AAMC was ignoring an entire class of applicants with disabilities.

"The AAMC says if you've done well in the past in your academic career, you can't have a learning disability, and we don't think that's the law," Goracke said. She said the four students had well-documented disabilities and had been given accommodations when taking other standardized tests.