[jury duty.query]

[wispfox]

[also posted to ljgenie]

I've been summonsed for jury duty in ~1.5 months.

I suspect strongly that my difficulty with processing large chunks of spoken words will make me... somewhat unsuited for such a thing. I don't, however, have any proof of this problem.

Do I just tell them about my concerns, and let them make the decision? Or is there something else I ought to be doing?

I'm perfectly willing to try to go ahead and be on a jury. But I note that I have difficulty with meetings (generally ~1 hour long) if I can't take notes and play a game on my Palm, and even with _those_ aids, I'm exhausted after about 1.5-2 hours. And the pamphlet says I should expect to need to pay close attention for somewhere around 6 hours.

If I'm lucky, I won't be called for any trials, and it won't come up. If not, though, I have a strong suspicion that jury duty would entail the least pleasant and most exhausting mental activity I could possibly be doing, and will make me unfit for human company during the entire time I'm doing it.

I've never before needed proof of this problem, as I'm very good at avoiding situations in which it would come up. So I don't have any. And, much as I'm sure my mother (a school psych) would probably be willing to write something explaining the problem, she's related to me. So probably wouldn't be an acceptable source of such information.

Comments

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

I suspect they'll let you explain it there, and that the note on the initial form is to weed out those who have really simple and commonplace reasons they can't serve, not to indicate that this is the last chance to escape for everyone who has any reason they can't serve.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Ah! Yes, good point. Now I don't feel quite so bad about potentially having to explain it there.