Information About Reasonable Adjustment Should Be Easy to Understand - isn’t that reasonable?

‘Reasonable adjustments’ is a legal right under disability law - but if the information about them is confusing, hidden or inaccessible, that right becomes much harder, sometimes even impossible to use.

Reasonable adjustments are one of those phrases that pop up everywhere now - on websites, in HR conversations, in NHS letters, in council policies.

But here’s the catch

For many members of the public, if it means anything at all, it sounds like a vague promise to be ‘helpful if we can’

In reality, it’s a technical legal term with a specific meaning in disability law - and that difference matters, because confusion leads to people missing out on support they’re entitled to

Under the Equality Act 2010, organisations have a duty to make reasonable adjustments so disabled people are not put at a substantial disadvantage

And for service providers, that duty is not just reactive - it’s anticipatory, meaning organisations are expected to think ahead about the barriers disabled people may face, not wait for someone to struggle first

So why does it still so often feel like reasonable adjustments are hard to access in practice?

A big part of the answer is: information

The quiet barrier: people can’t ask for what they can’t understand

Even when organisations  try to do the right thing, there are common failure points:

• People don’t realise ‘reasonable adjustments’ is a formal right, not a favour

• Websites explain it in policy language instead of everyday language

• The process for requesting adjustments is unclear or intimidating

• Staff vary hugely in confidence and consistency

• Information about options is buried, fragmented, or just way too complex.

What we see again and again is this:

If the communication around reasonable adjustments is not accessible, then the adjustments themselves become much harder to access

The state of play: what organisations are doing now

There’s been a genuine push in recent years to improve practice, and many organisations are clearly making real efforts

A few examples of what’s increasingly common:

Policies that explain how to request adjustments

Local authorities and public bodies are publishing ‘Reasonable adjustments policies’ for customers and service users, describing how people can ask and what might be offered.

Workplace guidance is becoming clearer and more detailed

In employment, ACAS guidance sets out exactly what reasonable adjustments are and how employers should handle requests, including listening, not making assumptions, and discussing what would help.

‘Adjustment passports’ to record needs over time

Many employers and public organisations now use passport-style documents to record what works for someone, so they don’t have to re-explain everything repeatedly

NHS systems for recording and sharing adjustments

In healthcare, the NHS has developed the Reasonable Adjustment Flag to help record and share adjustments across services

A stronger focus on accessible communication formats

Government guidance explicitly recommends using accessible/alternative formats and involving disabled people in developing and reviewing strategies for these formats

This is all very encouraging

But there’s a recurring gap between ‘policy exists’ and ‘people can use it’

Which brings us back to information accessibility

Reasonable adjustments are often communication adjustments

A lot of people understandably associate ‘reasonable adjustments’ with physical changes: ramps, signage, hearing loops, and equipment.

But many reasonable adjustments are about how information is given and how communication happens.

In NHS and social care, for example, the Accessible Information Standard is specifically about ensuring people receive information they can read and understand, and can include Easy Read, large print, audio, braille, British Sign Language and more

When you look at reasonable adjustments through this lens, it becomes obvious:

If your information is hard to understand, your adjustments are harder to access.

Where IC Works comes in: co-produced communications accessibility

At IC Works, we’re in a slightly unusual position

Because we co-produce with a panel of experts by experience, we don’t just know what organisations intend to communicate - we see what actually lands, what confuses, what overwhelms, and what simply doesn’t get used

That’s why we talk about communications accessibility: making information genuinely usable for people who face cognitive and comprehension barriers - not just technically available

And it’s also why we can help organisations move from ‘we have a reasonable adjustments policy’ to:

• People understand it

• People can use it

• People can ask without fear

• Staff can respond consistently

What IC Works can do to make reasonable adjustments easy to access

If you’re an organisation trying to improve your reasonable adjustments offer, IC-Works can help you tackle the information barrier directly. For example:

Create Easy Read versions of reasonable adjustments policies, request processes and service standards

Co-produce clear, non-intimidating ‘How to ask for adjustments’ guides (step-by-step, with supportive images)

Review your website copy and customer journeys to remove jargon, ambiguity and hidden links,

Help design request forms that people can actually complete (and staff can actually act on).

Produce accessible formats beyond Easy Read where needed? For example, audio or British Sign Language (BSL) pathways, depending on context.

Run workshops with your teams to build confidence in clear communication and consistent handling of requests aligned with good practice, such as ACAS’s emphasis on listening and avoiding assumptions.

Most importantly: we do this through co-production, so the result isn’t ‘best guess accessibility’ - it’s tested, argued over, refined, and made real

Reasonable adjustments shouldn’t be hard to ask for

It’s a strange contradiction that a right designed to remove barriers can itself be hidden behind a barrier of language and complexity.

But that’s also good news -  it means there’s a practical lever organisations can pull now:

• make the information accessible

• make the process clear

• make the options visible

If you want to strengthen your reasonable adjustments approach by improving how people understand and access it, IC Works can help you build communications accessibility grounded in lived experience and co-produced into something people can genuinely use.

Find out more

If you would like to find out how IC Works can support you, please get in touch.