Reasonable adjustments, once seen as the remit of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) teams within universities, are now the responsibility of everyone, whether you are a line manager, a researcher seeking to improve participation in research and innovation or a conference organiser making sure your event is accessible. Adjustments might include booking wheelchair-accessible rooms for your staff development day or providing captions on public engagement videos.
The change is part of the wide-ranging implications that the Equality Act (2010) has had for all UK university staff and research they undertake. But have mindsets in research changed?
If many roles include the responsibility of identifying and implementing reasonable adjustments, why is this a struggle for some? For those in research inclusion and EDI roles, inclusivity-mindedness comes naturally; inclusion is at the heart of their role. However, for those who are not as familiar with principles and values of inclusivity, reasonable adjustments may seem difficult to identify, implement and review.
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Inspired by a recent conversation around “having your inclusivity-head on”, this article seeks to demystify reasonable adjustments in research roles and encourage everyone to see them as a core thread running throughout everyday practice. Finally, I offer five top tips for inclusivity by design.
First, staff and faculty in the UK have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments if there is a substantial disadvantage to disabled people under the Equality Act (2010). This seems easy to comprehend, but also raises questions: how do you define “substantial disadvantage” and what does “reasonable” mean?
Ask yourself when determining substantial disadvantage: would this person have an equal opportunity at the activity if they did not have a disability? If you were presenting slides showing research findings at a conference, could an attendee with visual impairment access your material in the same way as a fully sighted person? If the answer is no, it is likely they would experience substantial disadvantage and reasonable adjustments are required.
When assessing what is “reasonable”, the Equality Act (2010) does give more guidance. Questions can be asked to determine reasonability, including:
- Is the adjustment affordable within our resources?
- Would the adjustment support the person with the activity by removing the disadvantage?
- Does the adjustment cause implications for health and safety?
- Would it provide an unfair advantage rather than levelling the playing field?
If an adjustment is not reasonable, there is a duty to make alternative provisions wherever possible. For example, you have invited a candidate with dyslexia to interview for a research role and part of assessing their capability is a written test. If the candidate requests not to take the written test, this would disadvantage other candidates, not create a more equal opportunity, so this adjustment is not reasonable. However, offering the candidate extra time to complete the written test, or using speech-to-text software, would remove barriers and give them an equal opportunity to demonstrate capability.
While this example demonstrates suitable reasonable adjustments, it is reactive rather than proactive. This is where the anticipatory duty to provide reasonable adjustments comes in and with it the opportunity to showcase inclusivity-mindedness. If speech-to-text software would support our interview candidate with dyslexia, why not embed the choice of using this computer into the written portion of the interview for everyone? If interview questions in advance would support hearing-impaired candidates or those with neurodiversity, why not provide them to all candidates? If you start to think of inclusivity as the rule rather than the exception, you are closer to the ultimate goal: inclusivity by design.
In some universities, lectures are recorded as standard for all students to access. This is of great benefit to disabled students, particularly those who may find it difficult to attend lectures in person, or may lose focus and concentration, for example due to a neurodiverse condition. However, this adjustment does not just benefit disabled students; all students benefit from this inclusive-by-design practice of recording lectures and can revisit the material at any time. Inclusivity by design should be a universal aspirational goal, whether implementing a new hybrid working policy or creating course content for a teaching module. The overall goal of an inclusive-by-design world is that reasonable adjustments are no longer needed.
We have got a long way to go before this inclusive utopia becomes reality, rather than the dream of people living with disabilities. You can make a difference by following these steps to get your inclusive-head on.
- Ask EDI teams, research inclusion teams or student support services for support, expert guidance and ideas for reasonable adjustments. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for every disabled person, so ask experts for help.
- Talk to the experts of their own experience: people with disabilities. What reasonable adjustments have worked for them?
- For every activity, ask yourself: “Could I engage with or access this in the same way if I had a disability?” If it would be more difficult, you will likely need to consider reasonable adjustments.
- Take advantage of EDI training. Educate yourself about disabilities and how they impact people, relevant to the work and activities you carry out. You do not have to know everything about disability, but baseline knowledge and questioning your work from a disability-forward perspective helps.
- Challenge policies and procedures that cause disadvantage to disabled people. If you are writing policies and procedures, consult people with disabilities or local disabled staff networks.
By making efforts to become inclusivity-minded as part of your everyday practice, you are helping to drive inclusivity by design forward, improving experiences not just for disabled people, but for everyone.
Jamie Wilde is a research inclusion manager at the University of Southampton.
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