Do USCF tournament rules differ in any way for blind members? If so, how?
Dan
Rule book section 35 - Rules for disabled and assisted players
Section 35F - Rules for visually impaired and disabled players
35F covers 4 pages, so I’m not copying them all.
(Looking up “blind rules” in your rulebook’s index is also a useful method! 
)
Thanks! I’ll find it.
I first had to worry about this back in the '90s when a middle schooler from Albright was playing in the Chicagoland scholastics. I can only remember one time when the opponent took advantage of the right to also have a deputy keep score when the blind player opted for that (the sighted player’s father, who was a significantly weaker player than his son). The totally blind player never sought for or desired any aid other than what was already listed in the rulebook, and was very well liked by his teammates.
At the IL K-8 state championships in Springfield in 1993, one of the downstaters thought that the ‘blind kid’ should get a trophy for ‘being brave enough to compete’. The chief TD (Erv Sedlock) and I immediately disagreed figuring that such a gift trophy would be unwanted. At the end of the tournament the blind player did get a trophy, but it was a standard one that he earned with his chess abilities, score and tie-breaks rather than one that was a gift. As one of his teammates led him to the stage to receive his trophy you could see many of the adults surprised and impressed, all of his teammates loudly leading the cheering, and tears of joy on his cheeks.
I earned my Category N credit toward the Associate National TD title by serving at Tim Just’s assistant at the 2009 U.S. Blind. I paid my own way there, learned a lot about rules and equipment for visually impaired players, met a correspondence opponent who was playing in the event, and took no fee.
I had a great time and would do it again as many times as I could. Senior TDs who want to advance: it doesn’t hurt to ask.
I played against a blind opponent once in a rated game.
It was interesting watching him running his fingers up and down a diagonal on his blind set until it dawned on me that I had blundered and he was verifying that his mating attack was clear and open. 