Introducing reasonable adjustment

One of the main concepts that underpins policies relating to intellectual disability is ‘reasonable adjustment’.

Reasonable adjustment describes the measures that can be taken to reduce the disadvantage experienced by someone because of their disability.

• Making changes to the built environment (e.g. providing ramps)
• Communication using plain language
• Communication using Easy Read material
• Being welcoming and inclusive in your attitude toward all people

Why make reasonable adjustment?

It has been reported that people with an intellectual disability are between 8 and 200 times more likely to have a vision impairment than their non-disabled peers (Woodhouse, 2010).

Challenges within health services

• For example, if a person is in a large personalised wheelchair, unusually wider than most conventional wheelchairs, it may not fit through the door space of the clinical room.
• Or, it could be the lack of courtesy at the reception desk that causes distress for the person.

Making reasonable adjustment through partnership

Reasonable adjustment is about making a reasonable effort to change something so that someone with a disability can use it in the same way as someone without a disability.

If you are determining what reasonable adjustments you ought to make to promote equality, you should do so through partnership. If you include the person with the disability, you can then take their perspective and requirements into account. Ultimately, this means that you will be more likely to provide a service, environment or facility to accommodate most people.

Frequently people with disability are marginalised and not consulted. Partnership ensures robustness of the end product, and also assists in determining what supports are appropriate and needed. It also ensures the voice of the person with the disability is included in decision making and that choices are responding to identified needs.

Target what you want to do

The best way to make a reasonable adjustment is to assess what the requirements are, in partnership with the people who use (or should use) the service. Together, identify the best adjustments that are possible, starting with what is most urgent.

Don’t forget, when you want to achieve a specific adjustment, be SMARTER when setting your goals.

S = Specific – be exact about what adjustment you are going to target.

M = Measurable – as the old adage goes, what you can measure gets done.

A = Achievable – be realistic about your goal and know what you can achieve to get the best results within the time allowed.

R = Relevant – to what you want to achieve will bring the best results to the person.

T = Time bound – set a schedule to achieve the goal.

E = Evaluate – It is always good practice to evaluate what works and what doesn’t and if there are any further adjustments to make.

R = Review – or auditing the effect of the adjustment provides you with the necessary feedback and motivation to identify and make further adjustments to your practice.