A job applicant who stammers was provided with facilities at an interview where he could type answers into a laptop and these would be projected onto the wall or a large screen.
Case study
A job applicant mentioned his stammering on the job application form. There was a question in the form about whether he would need any reasonable adjustments, but he left that blank.
At an initial interview no particular adjustments were made. His stammer was severe at the time. The applicant was invited back for a second interview. The employer suggested they supply facilities where the applicant could type answers into a laptop and these would be projected onto the wall or a large screen. The applicant agreed and these facilities were provided at the second interview.
At the second interview his fluency was somewhat improved – which may have been for various reasons other than having the typing option. He says: “I didn’t use [the laptop] during the main part of the interview but thought I better use it as they had laid it on for me so I asked a question with it at the end. An interesting experience.”
Was it just because of the greater fluency that he didn’t use the typing option?
The applicant comments: “Although my fluency was greater, it was not a huge amount ‘better’ – I’ve got quite used to struggling through blocks and this was normal for me (that’s how I spoke), so maybe the reason I didn’t use the gadget much was because I was ‘comfortable’ just stammering my normal way.”
It could take some time to answer questions through typing. Would he feel under time pressure and write less because the interviewers were waiting?
“There didn’t seem to be time pressure when I was using it even though I only type with two fingers – they suggested it/laid it on so I was using it the best I could… It seemed a quite natural/reasonably way of going about things. If I was blocking I would probably say less so how I considered it was that they wanted to get my full answers so they could assess me as a candidate properly. It was an interview panel of four… I think they were genuinely wanting to get my full answers (they did after all give me a second interview)”.
Another person’s view
Another person who stammers who was offered this facility found the natural tendency was to speak (and block) rather than type.
My comments
This is an example of a reasonable adjustment which could be required by the Disability Discrimination Act. It is good that it was done in such a way that he felt he was not under time pressure and had permission to take his time to give answers.
For possible advantages of this route, as opposed to simply writing answers to pre-set written questions, and possible disadvantages or issues to be addressed, see Examples of reasonable adjustments: Recruitment>Points on both ‘text to screen’ and ‘text to speech’.
Incidentally the employer should probably really have followed up before the first interview the issue of whether any adjustments should be made for the stammer.
