Case law: dyslexia is a disability

Employers must take all steps to identify, and make reasonable adjustments for, any employee with dyslexia in order to avoid disability discrimination claims.

In a recent case, a police officer, who discovered after 20 years in the job that he was dyslexic, brought a claim for disability discrimination, alleging that his employer had failed to make reasonable adjustments, particularly in the processes for determining whether he might be promoted to superintendent. Some adjustments had been made in the employee's favour, such as allowing him an extra 25 per cent of time for completing written exams, but he claimed that they were insufficient.

The Employment Tribunal found that, even though the officer was significantly disadvantaged compared with his colleagues when sitting the promotion exams, he was not disabled within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 because taking exams was not a normal day-to-day activity. However, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) overturned the original decision, stating that a written assessment or exam should be considered as a normal day-to-day activity, just as the act of reading and comprehension is, and to find otherwise would wholly undermine the legislation. Also, the EAT stated that the tribunal had applied the wrong test in assessing the claimant's disability by comparing his performance with that of the average person in the population; the correct comparison is between what the individual can do and what he would be able to do without the impairment.

Immediate