HARDLY FAIR

Blind Man Fails U.S. Citizenship Test After It Wasn’t Available in Braille

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services maintains Lucio Delgado did not provide a doctor’s note to prove he was blind.

A blind man says he failed his U.S. citizenship test in May after authorities refused to provide him with an exam in Braille. Lucio Delgado, a 23-year-old permanent resident from Mexico, said he completed the oral portion of his citizenship test on May 21 and was then denied a copy of the written exam that he could read. “I’m like, I don’t read large print,” he said. “I’m totally blind.”

Delgado said a U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services officer only provided an exam in large print and did not have one in Braille. “Unfortunately, you were unable to read a sentence in the English language,” a letter sent to Delgado by USCIS said, according to The Washington Post. “Regrettably, you were unable to achieve a passing score on the reading portion of the naturalization test.” USCIS maintains Delgado did not provide a doctor’s note to prove he was blind. A spokesperson later said the citizenship test only was modified for blind applicants in November—months after Delgado took it and failed.