I just don’t really condone using the blind card here. It seems really unnecessary and a wrong way to do it. It also gives blind people a bad reputation.

It’s not too difficult to get a doctor to write you something for a medical exemption, but if you do go down what is going to happen is there going to have you sit around for most of the day they’re going to call you in every now and then to ask you a few questions and then will dismiss you because nobody wants a blind juror. Depending on your state and city you may have to do this for a couple of days in a row.

I would be proud to serve on a jury! It’s one of my rights as a citizen and I wouldn’t think of using my disability to get out of it. (My left-wing social worker politics, on the other hand... /s)

In all seriousness, I’ve been called, and I got as far as the room where we watch the video on being a responsible juror, then they decided they didn’t actually need jurors that day and sent us home. (The video did not have descriptions, nor did they have large print for me. Didn’t ask about Braille b/c I can’t read it and have some usable vision.)

Also, isn’t justice *supposed* to be blind?

I was summoned to jury duty a few weeks after going totally blind. I had my doctor draft a letter appended to the response form saying that I would no longer be able to serve and that the blindness was permanent. This has kept me off the summoning list entirely. I'd just be frustrated trying to ingest as much information as I could if I were to be called today, as I was hyper-visual and feel that I would personally be a much better juror if I was still able to see. It's not something I'm interested in doing now, hence the permanent relief letter.

Yes, I managed it a few years ago on the basis that I couldn’t get reliable transportation to and from court (it was a federal court like an hour away). I didn’t even need a doctors note IIRC.

Edit: that said, going to court isn’t that dreadworthy. They’re pretty accessible and people can help you out with navigation, if needed. You will either be accommodated or left off the jury, so don’t worry about it.

When I lived in California I got summonsed to jury duty. I went with my white cane and when they saw I was blind I filled out some paperwork (well they helped me do so) and submitted something from my doctor stating I was legally blind and was exempted from all jury duty.

It was not that I didn't want to do it but many jurys are very visual in nature. Being able to see the case exibits etc is kind of important.

I have been called for jury duty three times but never picked because I work for the police department. I would have loved to do it.

I would get the exemption. I can't see how they would take a blind person anyway, since so much of evidence is visual, and so much of the world is visual. What you hear, smell and the like carry so much less weight than what you see.