What are Reasonable adjustments

Forget the Equality Act 2010 for a moment and let’s think about proactive inclusion.

If you knew that providing a kettle and some tea bags and coffee would make your work force stay focussed, be more productive and happier at work you’d do it right? That’s why most offices have them.

But what if there was something else you could do, something simple, probably inexpensive that could help everyone be happier, more productive and feel more supported, you’d do it wouldn’t you?

Why wait for someone to ask for support, why not simply do the things that make a difference to everyone.

Proactive inclusive adjustments are things that allow people to shine whether they are neurodivergent or simply tired, stressed, menopausal, anxious, bereaved or going through a personal struggle or any other cause for a “less than best brain day’.

The law requires a business to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate disability whether it is visible or not, but why wait to be asked when it makes sense to do it anyway.

Examples include:

• Clear signage so people can find stuff easily
• A place where a person can have a moment of calm and quiet when things get too much
• Communicate clearly and concisely, with enough detail to provide clarity but not so much that a person might switch off during reading.
• Provide simple solutions that let people swap text to voice and voice to text (often already available in most software but not switched on)
• Un-hide the hidden rules, the things that people only find out over time – are you allowed to use any of the mugs, can you have stuff delivered to work, what’s the dress code and what do you actually mean by smart casual.
• Give permission where appropriate such as, it’s ok to wear a cap or sunglasses if you find the lights too bright, it’s ok to wear noise cancelling headphones if you find the background noise too much, it’s ok to stand up in a meeting if sitting still makes it hard to concentrate.
• Give advanced notice and agendas so people can prepare for meetings.
• Use tinted slides to reduce the glare on PowerPoint.
• Use matt laminate instead of gloss to reduce the glare from notices
• Give clear information in advance for people visiting your site.
• Use a variety of mediums when communicating important information such as audio, pictures, video,
• Print on tinted or recycled paper instead of brilliant white to reduce glare.

The Equality Act 2010 requires that any business makes reasonable adjustments to support neurodivergent individuals whether they have a diagnosis or if they identify as neurodivergent (probably because diagnosis can take up to 2 -10 years depending on where you live).

You can get help from the relevant charities or ‘access to work’ https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply or from people like us. We can do site assessments and provide a list of things you can do to help your neurodivergent employees and site visitors to thrive.