Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Dyslexia
in the
workplace
A guide for unions
Second edition
by Brian Hagan
Trades Union Congress
Congress House
Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3LS
(t) 020 7636 4030
(f) 020 7636 0632
www.tuc.org.uk
q
ISBN 978 1 85006 832 7
£10 (£2.50 for TUC unions)
About the author
Brian Hagan has been a trade union member for more than 33
years and has previously worked as a senior personnel manager
and head of management consultancy in both the public and
private sectors. Having qualified to teach adults with dyslexia at
University College London, he now specialises in helping dyslexic
employees and their employers identify workplace adjustments to
mitigate the effects of dyslexia in the workplace, and in providing
career advice and training for adult dyslexics.
He is happy to provide a free initial consultation to trade union
members/representatives and can be contacted on
bhdyslexia@yahoo.co.uk or tel: 020 8348 7110.
This booklet was designed in accordance with guidelines
published by the British Dyslexia Association.
Contents
Text written by Brian Hagan for the TUC, summer 2004, and updated
and revised in spring 2008.
The information in Section 5 is from Dr Sylvia Moody's article
‘Dyslexia in the Dock’, published in ‘Dyslexia Review’: Vol. 13, No.1.
The contribution of Dr Sylvia Moody and Mary Colley is gratefully
acknowledged.
Introduction
e originally wrote this guide in 2005,
Dyslexia in the workplace
ii
S.1
What is
dyslexia?
1
S.1
An assessment of dyslexia, and the self- The role of the union.
awareness this brings, coupled with the
implementation of reasonable adjustments Union representatives need to be aware of
at work, can reveal latent strengths and dyslexia issues and be able to empathise
abilities in dyslexic employees. In turn, with their members. They should focus on
employers can be helped to see dyslexic communicating to colleagues and
employees as competent workers with employers:
different patterns of strengths and
The very real psychological and
weaknesses, rather than as problems.
2
S.2
Dyslexia in the
workplace
Case Study 1 w
In the case of Francis, managers ignored This led to the company:
the fact that perceived problems with his
Withdrawing their tribunal defence of the
performance were directly attributable to
dismissal;
dyslexia. They initially treated his clerical,
spelling and filing errors as a disciplinary Paying significant damages to Francis;
and capacity issue. Even when Francis was and
identified as dyslexic, and Access to Work
Providing a satisfactory reference.
support secured, managers chose to ignore
expert advice and dismiss him for Equally importantly, the trade union
incapacity. intervention helped restore a young
employee’s sense of worth. Francis
However, specialist assessment had
recognised that he was not to blame, and
identified Francis’s dyslexia as a disability
that many of his workplace problems were
under the terms of the Disability
solvable if the employer had followed good
Discrimination Act (DDA). Correspondence
practice. He is now thriving, having moved
between the union and employer showed
to, and been promoted within, a more
that managers could have, but failed, to
dyslexia-aware employer.
make reasonable adjustments.
3
S.2
And whether the adjustments: The organisation’s and individual’s
priorities, in relation to dyslexia and job
Are practical;
performance.
Are excessively expensive – bearing in
The organisation’s and individual’s
mind the size of the organisation, the
impressions, understanding and objectives
resources it can access and the nature of its
in relation to these priorities.
work. This is unlikely to be the case where
Access to Work assistance is provided; The subsequent ‘reasonable adjustments
report’ should contain timed and costed
Will significantly reduce the disadvantage
recommendations that reflect the input of
faced by the dyslexic employee;
stakeholders and provide a phased and
Could cause serious disruption to other integrated delivery plan for the
colleagues. adjustments. This plan must have
management agreement and ownership if
This needs to be balanced with the findings
the recommendations are to succeed.
in Archibald v Fife Council (2004) IRLR 651
Dyslexia in the workplace
5
S.2
and consolidate induction information more
quickly and securely, through, for example,
specialist tuition in reading and memory
techniques, and by using searchable text
readback software.
Assessing
dyslexia
person is likely to be dyslexic (and the
Dyslexia in the workplace
Support for such a finding will normally need This is crucial: diagnostic assessment is a
to come from a formal diagnostic assess- vital step in determining whether an
ment. It should be supplemented by: employee is dyslexic and whether they are
protected by the DDA.
A detailed assessment of everyday
1. difficulties. (The court takes account
of these when deciding if a person should
The appendices at the end of this booklet
give simple screening tests which can give a
be considered disabled for the purposes of preliminary indication of whether or not an
the DDA.) employee might be dyslexic.
11
S.4
Dyslexia and
disability law
n addition to the provisions of the DDA
Dyslexia in the workplace
opportunity for disabled people. This means This calls for approaches which embed
they must take account of the needs of dyslexia-friendly policies and practices in
disabled people as an integral part of their every aspect of an organisation’s policies.
policies, practices and procedures, and not TU representatives and managers at all
as something separate or additional. levels need to undertake dyslexia
awareness training so that they can
The basic requirement for a public authority effectively support dyslexic employees at all
when carrying out their functions is to have stages of their employment – in particular:
due regard to do the following:
Recruitment and selection;
Promote equality of opportunity between
disabled people and other people; Performance and appraisal; and
Completing an assessment or
3. under the DDA 1995.
In addition, organisations need to be The following sections show how the law is
being interpreted for each of these criteria.
aware of the potential for such
misunderstandings and provide
awareness training for those involved Physical or mental impairment.
in training and supervising dyslexic
Dyslexia is clearly recognised as a mental
employees.
impairment under the DDA.
The judgement went on to state that: It is included in the World Health
Organisation’s International Classification of
If the respondent had organised to have Diseases; and
an assessment report prepared early in
It is referred to several times in the
the claimant’s training, or ideally in
Government’s Code of Practice on Disability
anticipation of his arrival, they would have
Discrimination issued in 1996.
had a set of adjustments recommended to
them… and been able to implement those
along with training of his tutors in how to The adverse effect must be substantial.
train and assess dyslexic trainees in order
The law states that the disability must have
to measure fairly whether they would
a ‘substantial effect’, which is one that is
make good police officers.
‘more than minor or trivial’. In determining
this, the effect of any special ‘measures…
This judgement, although not binding, has
taken to treat or correct’ the impairment
major implications for employers, setting
should be disregarded.
out important advice and guidance on how
they should identify, develop and implement
The question then arises: can the ‘coping
reasonable adjustments in respect of
strategies’ which employees with dyslexia
dyslexic employees.
use to mitigate the effects of their condition
be regarded as ‘measures’ in this sense?
14
S.4
Case Study 4 w Case Study 5 w
Holmes vs. Bolton Metropolitan Borough Cook vs. Thorne House Services for
Council (December 1998). Autism (February 1999).
H., who had dyslexia, worked for the C. was employed as a residential social
council as a residential social worker. He worker. Her written work was always good
had complained of less favourable but this was due at least in part to the fact
treatment. His employers felt that, that she was very conscientious and often
although H. had dyslexia, he was not took work home.
disabled within the meaning of the Act, as
The tribunal, in finding that she was
there was no evidence that his difficulties
disabled, took account of the fact that:
were affecting his competence at work.
However, the tribunal decided it would be Her coping mechanisms were likely to
wrong to consider ‘normal day-to-day break down under stress; and
16
S.5
Dyspraxia
18
S.6
Promoting
awareness
This guide promotes a greater It will help union reps and their members
understanding of dyslexia issues and to:
discrimination law, and shows how
Resolve issues before they become
individuals can be helped to manage their
problems;
dyslexia through:
Negotiate with employers on an informed
Reasonable adjustments to work policies
basis; and
and practices;
Stand up to discriminatory treatment
Reasonable adjustments in management
where it occurs – enabling dyslexic
and supervisory styles and methods; and
employees to release their potential as
Specialist training and information successful and valued members of the
technology. workforce.
19
S.7
Further
information
he following organisations can provide
Dyslexia in the workplace
21
Appendices
22
Appendix 1: Everyday
activities checklist.
Please indicate on the scale provided
whether the following activities cause you: Great Some Little/no
difficulty difficulty difficulty
Reading letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 . .
Reading a newspaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 . .
Reading official documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 . .
Reading recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 . .
Reading bus or train timetables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 . .
Using ticket or cash machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . .0 . .
Please ring any of the following words or phrases which you feel describe the emotions
associated with the above difficulties:
24 © Sylvia Moody