Petition: “No diversity without dysfluency”
22nd October is International Stammering Awareness Day. Stamma, the British Stammering Association, is calling on media organisations around the world to ensure that on television and on the radio we hear people who stammer. Not just when the subject of stammering comes up, but throughout the year, every year. Petition: “No diversity without dysfluency”, International Stammering Awareness Day.
Reasonable adjustments by service providers
Reasonable adjustments by service providers reviewed and updated, particularly in the light of the Rowley case below and the VC case from 2018.
Little Mix concert: case on BSL interpreters
The County Court held that organisers of a music concert had breached the reasonable adjustment duty by not arranging BSL interpreters for deaf audience members: Little Mix concert: case on BSL interpreters.
R (Rowley) v Minister for the Cabinet Office
In R (Rowley) v Minister for the Cabinet Office the High Court held that the UK government had failed to make a reasonable adjustment by not providing British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters for two televised Coronavirus data briefings. However for ongoing Coronavirus briefings – given the use of detailed data slides – the court held that “in-screen” BSL interpretation was enough to satisfy the reasonable adjustment duty. In the circumstances the government was not required to provide an “on-platform” interpreter.
Follows v Nationwide Building Society
In Follows v Nationwide Building Society, 2021, an employment tribunal held that a worker caring for her disabled mother could claim indirect disability discrimination when asked to give up home-working. This was even though it was her mother rather than the claimant who was disabled. However being only a tribunal case, it does not set a precedent.
Previously UK cases and guidance have indicated that only in claims for direct discrimination or harassment can someone other than the claimant have the disability: Discrimination by association. However the EU court decision in CHEZ, 2015, had opened the possibility that at least in some circumstances a person without the relevant protected characteristic could claim indirect discrimination.
Examples of jobs
On Examples of jobs done by people who stammer:
- Go for what you want (stamma.org), August 2021 – “without a stammer … I may have been a less sympathetic and empathic doctor”
- Primary school teacher: How teaching helped me embrace my stammer (stamma.org), Sept 2021
- British intellectual property lawyer on Stuttertalk podcast Is it healthy to work on your stammering all the time?: Ep 711 (stuttertalk.com), Oct 2021
- Canadian actor James Gallanders (youtube), 2020, talking about having a stammer and being an actor.
- Previous updates Website updates July to August 2021.
