UK disability discrimination law and stammering / stuttering
Allan Tyrer Abrahart case: oral assessments led to suicide Abrahart v University of Bristol: oral assessments led to suicide, County Court decision, May 2022. This tragic case involved a physics student with depression and social anxiety disorder. The university continued to seek to use oral interviews to assess her, even though she failed to attend most of … Read more
This tragic case involved a physics student with depression and social anxiety disorder. The university continued to seek to use oral interviews to assess her, even though she failed to attend most of them. This continued after the university knew she had a mental health problem connected to the interviews. She committed suicide in her … Read more
Whether lack of knowledge relevant to s.15 justification defence City of York Council v Grosset>Justification: tribunal entitled to consider medical evidence not available to the employer added to cover a point made more by the EAT than the Court of Appeal. The Grosset case was in 2018. Also changes to Knowledge of causal link with … Read more
The claimant had spinal issues and a stammer. Among other things she alleged that the store manager would not allow her to put her case to him, by speaking over her and completing her sentences. It was undisputed that she was disabled, and the tribunal held that as regards the stammer, the employer had sufficient … Read more
The claimant had epilepsy and vitiligo. From online research she took various steps which she was convinced would help her conditions but were not supported by professional advice, such as avoiding coffee and alcohol, and not exposing her body to cosmetics and cleaning products. The EAT held that these restrictions on her life – due … Read more
The claimant had dyspraxia, and argued he should have been allowed a reasonable adjustment of applying for a job orally rather than having to do so online. The EAT held the Employment Tribunal had been wrong to strike out the claim as having no reasonable chance of success. The judge should have considered the possibility … Read more
STAMMA’s ad campaign calling for greater stammering representation in the media is now showing in cinemas across the UK. With the support of Pearl & Dean, selected cinemas nationally are showing the one-and-a-half-minute film from STAMMA (the British Stammering Association) until October 2022. The list of cinemas is attached to STAMMA advert on a screen … Read more
An excellent new research paper discusses both benefits and limitations of understanding stammering through the social model of disability. The paper Stuttering and the social model by Constantino, Campbell and Simpson is free to read and download until 22nd April 2022: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2022.106200. One of the co-authors introduces the research paper in this twitter thread. The … Read more
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld a tribunal decision requiring a claimant who stammers to pay a deposit as a condition of proceeding with his EqA claims. He was claiming direct and indirect disability discrimination in relation to requirements that telephone interviewers have a “clear voice” and be in “good health”. The EAT held the … Read more
A home care worker was dismissed after being off sick with depression (a disability). Her stammer was normally not apparent but did arise during bad periods of depression. She made EqA claims as regards allegedly not being able to attend a probationary review meeting because of her stammer, and the employer being unwilling to discuss … Read more