Reasonable adjustments

Also called Equality Act adjustments, Section 20 duty, Anticipatory duty

Every service, shop, school and employer must change how it does things so a disabled person is not at a substantial disadvantage. Communication is covered.

What it is

A reasonable adjustment is a change a service provider, employer or school must make so that a disabled person is not put at a substantial disadvantage compared with everyone else. The duty is in section 20 of the Equality Act 2010, which covers England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has an equivalent duty under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

The duty has three limbs: change a practice or policy, change a physical feature, or provide an auxiliary aid or service. Communication support is squarely an auxiliary aid or service, and the Act says so in terms.

Who it can help

Anyone who meets the Act's definition of disability: a physical or mental impairment with a substantial, long-term effect on day-to-day activities. Communicating counts as a day-to-day activity, so a person who uses AAC, a Deaf person, a person with aphasia or a stammer, an autistic person and a person with a learning disability are all likely to be covered.

It is not a duty on individuals. Your neighbour has no obligation to adjust. And it does not require a service to do the impossible, only what is reasonable given its size and resources, which for the NHS or a supermarket chain is a great deal.

How it works

For service providers the duty is anticipatory. That means a hospital, council or bank must think in advance about what disabled people will need, not wait for you to arrive and then decide. A service that has never considered how a non-speaking customer would reach its helpline has already failed the test.

For employers the duty is triggered when they know, or could reasonably be expected to know, that you are disabled. See Access to Work for the money that pays for many workplace adjustments. For schools the duty covers auxiliary aids since 2012, so a school in England, Scotland or Wales cannot refuse a communication aid on the ground that it is equipment.

The cost of an adjustment can never be passed to the disabled person.

Getting started

Write down the disadvantage first, then the adjustment. "I cannot use your phone-only booking line because I am non-speaking; I need to book by email or text" is a request a service can act on and, if it refuses, a request it will have to justify.

Ask for the adjustment in writing and keep the reply. Common communication adjustments that services grant without argument once asked: extra appointment time, a quiet waiting area, written rather than spoken instructions, a BSL interpreter, information in easy read, permission to bring a supporter, and staff who will wait while you use your device.

If you use a talking board, tell the service that is your voice and that you will be using it. Fiducia Talk is one option, and it runs on any phone in a browser, so there is no equipment for the service to object to.

Where to get help

The Equality and Human Rights Commission publishes the statutory codes and runs the Equality Advisory and Support Service helpline. Disability Rights UK has factsheets written for the person asking, not the lawyer. For the NHS specifically, the Accessible Information Standard makes the duty concrete.

A refusal can be challenged through the service's complaints process and ultimately in the county court (sheriff court in Scotland), and there is a six-month time limit from the act complained of, so do not sit on it.