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Jury Duty: A Migraine Minefield

I went to jury duty the othe day. I knew that it was risky, but I I had been doing so well lately I thought I could handle it. The room was way too hot..bomb#1. Every little old lady around me had taken a bath in her favorite perfume that morning..bomb #2. The man in front of me evidently had just finished smoking a whole pack of cigarettes..bomb#3. The beautiful fluorescent lighting in the room had been set to xray, it was so bright..bomb#4. The judge felt it was his duty to reeducate all of those people who did not pay attention in high school civics on the wonders of the judicial system and talked non stop for 20 minutes..bomb #5.

By the time we got to the part where the judge asks "if anyone in the room feels they cannot serve please line up over here," I was a mess. I was sweating profusely, my head was splitting, and I knew if I stayed much longer I was going to have a serious problem. I got up though stood in line a shaking, sweaty mess. When I got to the judge I told him I had Chronic Migraine and that I was sorry for my appearance but I spent most of my days with a headache and it made difficult to concentrate. He just looked at me and said "Maybe you can just work through it today." I just could not even process this. I can just "work through" this neurological disease that has taken over my life??I just stood there staring at him, he finally gave me a postponement. Like I'm going to be better 6 months from now???

It is frustrating. Are they going to make "accommodations" for my disease? Are they going to tell everyone not to wear perfume and turn off the lights and please don't smoke before coming??

It's not just a headache, I can't "work through it." It's a CHRONIC DISEASE. If JUDGES treat people this way what hope do we have???

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