Guest Blog: Who decides what ‘reasonable’ means?

By Ann Johnson

When facilitating a meeting last week discussing the rights of people with disabilities to reasonable adjustments a delegate raised their hand and asked ‘who decides whether adjustment requests are reasonable?’.  Good question I thought; the ultimate response is a Judge in a tribunal or court room ‘BUT you would hope it would not get to that’ I said, its important to ask what people need and then seek to work with them to put in place a reasonable adjustment so ideally creating an environment where you can work together. 

As someone with a disability myself I appreciate being asked what reasonable adjustments I might need and always comforted by someone getting back in touch with me for further clarity or to offer reassurance.

However, the question of reasonable adjustment need is not always easy to convey, as it’s hard to say what you might need if you do not know what you will experiencing, doing or engaging with on the day; so its important for me that people share that with me so I can determine what I will need on the day in order to fully engage.  

Its also great to see the providers that anticipate need in a very inclusive way for example Forest of Hearts has a range of tools and equipment which includes tools with long and short handles; raised beds and seating which means people do not have to keep asking; they can select and choose in a very inclusive way. Having had my father recently locate a long-handled fork for my home gardening I have seen the value and ease of inclusive gardening.

The other thing I value is honesty; if you cannot provide the reasonable adjustment then tell me; there is nothing worse than heading off to somewhere and then finding its not as accessible as they led me to believe. 

Equality law recognises that bringing about equality for people with disabilities may mean changing the way in which services are delivered, providing extra equipment and/or the removal of physical barriers. This is the ‘duty to make reasonable adjustments. A duty is something someone must do, in this case because the law says they must.

The duty to make reasonable adjustments aims to make sure that if you are a disabled person, you can use an organisation’s services as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard usually offered to non-disabled people. The duty is ‘anticipatory’. This means an organisation cannot wait until a disabled person wants to use its services, but must think in advance (and on an ongoing basis) about what disabled people with a range of impairments might reasonably need, such as people who have a visual impairment, a hearing impairment, a mobility impairment or a learning disability.

At Forest of Hearts we seek to anticipate need in the programmes we provide, volunteer activities and to the sites we work on; but this is not just in the environment its anticipating need in respect of tools, equipment, heights of beds, seating along with the confidence our team of staff and volunteers have in engaging with people they come in contact with; recognising that negative attitudes, stigma, discrimination can be one of the biggest barriers faced by people with disabilities. Seeing the value of having choice in place. 

Access to the countryside and open spaces should provide us all with opportunities to relax, benefit, explore and engage with. It should be enjoyed by all people independently or as a shared experience with family and friends.