What If...

My group of seventy-five jurors was called into a courtroom at 11:15 a.m.  We sat and were given the required lengthy speech about jury service.  The attorneys and defendants were introduced.  We were then handed the jury questionnaire.  By then it was noon.

The judge went through the first two pages of questions one at a time.  People who answered 'yes' to any question were asked to stand and give their names to the judge.  He made a note of each.  A dozen questions later, 40 people had stood up and it was 12:30.

Then he brought every person who had answered 'yes' to any question up to the bench one at a time to talk about their concerns.  It was nearly 2 p.m. when we were sent to lunch.

The second item on the questionnaire had to do with whether there were any medical, financial or personal problems which would prevent you from serving.  With that question came a sentence about the Americans With Disabilities Act under which many accommodations could be provided as needed. Nearly three hours of hungry boredom gave me plenty of time to consider possibilities.

If I had Type 1 diabetes and part of my personal management plan was to eat at approximately the same time every day, I would have needed an accommodation 45 minutes into what was turning into a nearly 3 hour affair.  What would I have done?  Stood up and asked to approach the bench? Tried to eat something without anyone noticing?  Sat there and hoped an emergency didn't develop?

What would happen if a person with diabetes experienced a significant low during testimony and needed a few minutes to regain the power of concentration?  What questions would be raised about someone repeatedly looking at electronic (diabetes) devices throughout the trial?  Would the beeping of devices and glucometers prove to be a distraction?

With a Supreme Court justice who must occasionally need to munch glucose tabs during a hearing, I'm certain diabetes isn't a barrier to jury service.  It's more of a question of when and how a potential juror would disclose the concern.  And of what specific information would need to be shared with the presiding judge.

All I can tell you is that if I were that person who'd been sitting there anxious about when or whether I'd get lunch before my blood sugar crashed, I would have been extra upset when we returned from lunch to learn that the morning's process had been all to find only one more person to fill an almost-complete jury.  Even I, being merely hungry and bored, was somewhat irritated that people were not dismissed more efficiently in this situation.

Jury Duty

I had my first jury duty experience a few weeks ago.

I have been called 4 other times but never served.  I was called once when I was attending college out of state and excused.  I was called for the week of my wedding and excused.   I was called at a time my boss considered me an 'essential employee,' and her letter got me excused.  And I was called when I was a parent to a 3 year old with diabetes and was excused as her primary caregiver.

This time I had to go.  Yes, I'm still a caregiver to a kid with diabetes, but

a. She needs significantly less care-giving than she did at 3 and
b. The amount of documentation I would have needed to submit to prove she needed me had grown exponentially in the past ten years.

But she does still need me, which became the tricky part.

I'm o.k. leaving her home alone for brief periods of time, but only if I'm only a few minutes away, and if we're able to text or call easily.

So on the morning of day 1, we rose extra early so she could eat a counted and bolused-for breakfast and be dropped at a neighbor's (who was very generous to welcome her at 7:30 a.m.).  I drove the 30 minutes to the courthouse.  I was then alternately able to be completely in touch with my phone in hand in the jury holding room, or completely forbidden from cell phone use when taken into a courtroom for jury selection.

Therefore my husband was on call for the two days.  He is able to problem solve basic issues, but I'm usually the go-to diabetes person (as evidenced by my being conferenced in after my recent accident).  So he was anxious about the situation.  Also of concern was that he's an hour plus commute away during the day, so should a true emergency arise, there would be a long time to wait.

I arranged for grandpa to be here the first day when she got home since we had a quick turn-around before the evening's school concert.  The second day she went home with a friend.

The good news is that I did not end up on a jury.  The other good news was that no diabetes issues arose.

I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would possibly serve on a jury.  Or whether I would need to be excused.   Would anyone believe I was challenged by finding child care for my teenager?  Would they understand the need to be accessible during the day?  Would it seem implausible that I field phone calls from my child at school or during after school activities a couple of times every week?

Explaining my life to anyone, let alone an absolute stranger at the courthouse, is always a daunting task.  It's a unique situation of needing to be accessible 'just in case,' and never knowing when that moment might occur.