Hi
I just got back from delivering meals (meals on wheels) and I find I have a jury summons. I'll have to get a doctors note to send in explaining that I cannot sit for very long. Years ago I did jury duty and ended up the foreman. It was an interesting experience-more so because it gave me view of the other jurors rather than the case-which was simple enough.
The Jurors wanted to argue about things that were already agreed upon by the litigants in court. I stopped all that and we got done with the case in a couple of hours. We never really "elected" a foreman. I just wouldn't let the rest of the jurors go off on bizarre tangents and fell into the roll.

I know how you feel. It would be hard for me to serve. Between my UC and AS, I would not do well.

Jury duty... forgot all about that now living in Argentina. I was called twice, but both I was not needed and just sat in room.

Best of luck getting out of it.

Tim

I know I couldn't survive; I can't sit in most chairs at all due to my neck. Can't sit anywhere for very long, even "good" chairs. Bad chairs, not even a few seconds. I've never been called but wondered if I were if I could be excused for medical reasons?

I have been called twice. The first time I called the judge's office and talked to his assistant. She put me on hold and came back and said that he said to just ignore the summons and not to worry about a dr's letter.

The 2nd time I just sent a dr's letter. I could not sit that long even though I would love to serve.

Possi

I like the cartoon where the foreman grabs his tie and pulls it over his head and the judge says "Just read the verdict, Mr. Smith."

YIKES! There was one year I was called three times (go figure) and only sat on 1 three hour jury (it was an absurd case that the Judge finally threw out).

The wait from 7:30-4:30 just in case we were needed, was miserable. The seating was in very poor condition in the waiting room. I tried to get out of it and was denied....Sadly I quit registering to vote for about 5 years until I moved out of that county to prevent being called again. On top of it being uncomfortable, getting into the center of a large city required a lot of walking....Hope all goes well for you to be exempted.

We live in a small county and get called up all the time. I finally got a permanent release! Yea!

LOL Timo

Oh my gosh I DID THE SAME EXACT THING!!! Except we did elect a foreman who started out by saying he had a daughter about the same age as the defendent...I said, hold it, stop everything, we are here to discuss the merits of the case only. I then took over and asked the bailiff for the transcript and we went on from there. It was a simple case but the bailiff said the judge was impressed that we had asked for transcripts since no one had ever done that in a case like this. After it was all over several jurors thanked me for being a leader and giving them direction. I just said I wanted to make sure we did this the right way.

Thanks for your story...
you should be proud!!! ....

I'll be honest-this ticked me off!

I've already stated that I've done jury duty before. But, there is such a thing as a sitting disability-it doesn't get much press but it does exist. Sitting for longer than 30 minutes is TORTURE; not annoyance, not inconvenience but shear agony. Blood pressure raises, break out in a sweat and possibly pass out from it-a guarantee of a major flare in the following days/weeks.

If someone cannot stand for very long would you think that it would be "negative thinking" to acknowledge a need for a chair? Or for someone who cannot walk to need a wheel chair?

I kind of have to agree with Pezami - I hope this was just a bad wording because like Pezami, I physically don't have the ability to sit more than 20-30 minutes (and THAT is with padded seating) before the pain causes me to climb the wall (hence my previous comment about the waiting room seating).

It's possible that you have not reached the degree of advancement with AS that it causes you to have this severe discomfort (as I can promise you when and if you do - the world changes).

For years after my diagnosis, I was uncomfortable and would squirm around in my seat at work (and people would joke about it), but about 4 years ago, the discomfort went to extreme pain. I don't do hard seats at restaurants or go to movie theaters anymore because I just can't sit still without it becoming overwhelmingly unbearable.

Doctor gave me a letter that I turned in with my notification.

"I follow ******** for Ankylosing spondylitis with erosions in her sacroiliac joint, inflammatory back pain, arthritis , history of plantar fasciitis, and dactylitits. She has difficulty sitting for long periods of time because of pain and stiffness. She is being treated with medications including NSAIDs and Humira, as well as hydrocodone. Given the severity of her disease, I do not think she will be able to partake in jury duty."

I hope that is enough for them! I also wrote a note on the paperwork I turned in specifying that I cannot sit longer than 30 minutes.