I had a jury summons the other day. I duly filled it in and returned it, requesting a deferral on the grounds that as a minister the two weeks before Easter were too busy to be away. I also answered the medical question admitting to depression. Today I had a letter telling me that I am excused because I am ineligible to serve.
The guidance form has two lists of those ruled out of jury service essentially the bad and the mad - those with a conviction in the last 10 years, or for longer than 5 years; whilst the other list covers 'mental disorders'. This list covers disorders and disabilities, those with limited capacity, those in hospital and those under the doctor for mental health issues. Reading that again I should perhaps have realised, but when sending off the form I was naive enough to think that it would take more than an antidepressant medication to be excluded.
Afterall there are others whose illness doesn't automatically exclude them but if too unwell to serve can apply to be excused. There is a difference between times when I have been too depressed to function and times when we are fully functioning - but just because we are on meds we are ruled out. Full stop.
I have served before, in a former pre-collared life, back then clergy were ruled out of jury service so I didn't expect to serve again anyway. But it feels very different to be ruled out on your job than because of your illness. It feels as if I have been labelled as incapable of the role because the condition I am managing is a mental rather than a physical one, it is an assumption not based on my current health but a blanket rejection of a group of society.
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