From Sarah Presley, Washington, DC:

I'm a bit shocked at the discouragement that Clayton Jacobs has received in response to his letter in the May Readers Forum expressing the desire to go on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am not a member of the church and don't know Mr. Jacobs's particular qualifications, but the idea that a blind person would necessarily be too much of a burden on his mission companion seems extreme. One might argue that any of us blind people would be burdens on our sighted co-workers when there are occasionally jobs we must do that require some accommodation.
I understand that a mission is a more extreme sort of job, but from what I have heard from my sighted Mormon friends about their missions, it doesn't seem impossible to me that a blind person could be useful and productive in some missions.
And even though--from what I have gathered--the determination of where a Mormon missionary will serve is kind of random, according to need in particular places, there is no reason why exceptions couldn't be made if the blind person or the selecting authorities thought that some mission sites would be too difficult. There are mission sites in the jungles and mission sites in New York City.
All of that said, I don't think just any blind person would necessarily be successful in a mission setting. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco for two years. I managed to succeed despite my visual limitations, but that does not mean that I think every blind person I know could or should do it. A blind person who wishes to serve in the Peace Corps or do some sort of mission should have very good mobility and independent living skills, and if serving in a country where another language is spoken, should have a decent ability to learn foreign languages--since we can't just point at what we want. In addition, this person should be very flexible, and maybe most important of all, should have a diplomatic attitude. Those diplomatic skills will be crucial in convincing selecting authorities to let him or her serve, putting fellow missionaries at ease, and dealing with locals who may be shocked to see a blind person serving in such a capacity.