I had an embarrassing situation when I tried to get assistive listening devices after being called to jury duty. I was impressed that the jury questionnaire had a box to check if you needed assistive listening devices. But when I got to the jury room no one knew what they are. I kept asking if they had been found, but by the time I was called to the courtroom none had been located.
In the courtroom as the judge was about to describe the case I asked about the ALD so I could understand her explanation. She called the clerk over, and everyone had to sit and wait for 15 minutes before the clerk returned with an ALD. I was then dismissed even tho’ I hadn’t indicated that I wanted to be excused.
I asked on my chapter email if anyone had been bumped when they asked for an ALD. Seven people replied. Six had been bumped. Only one had actually served and she said it was awful because the sound kept cutting in and out.
The Hearing Life magazine had a story about a similar incident in California that led to the US Attorney enforcing the ADA. Any experience in other places? Is this an issue the HLAA could look into?
