Everyone is different and managers should remember not to make assumptions about the needs or capabilities of a person.

Reasonable adjustment is dependent on the needs of the individual and the most important thing for managers to ask the member of staff.

Possible examples of reasonable adjustment are listed below but managers can also seek advice from HR, Occupational Health or Inclusion and Wellbeing.

Mobility impairment (including dexterity impairments)

• Ramps
• Accessible lifts
• Handrails
• Height adjustable workstations
• Accessible computer keyboards
• Adapted office furniture
• Speech-recognition (speech-to-text) software

Hearing impairments

• Hearing loops
• Vibrating or visual alarms
• Live captioning
• Video phones
• Subtitling

Sight impairments

• Screen-magnification or screen-reading software
• Magnification software for Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones
• Braille machines and printers
• Video magnifiers for reading printed material
• Contrasting work surfaces or trays
• Braille

Mental health conditions

• Flexible working arrangements (e.g. working from home, working part-time, change of start/finish times)
• Longer or more frequent breaks
• Partitioned area or private office to reduce noise/distractions
• Division of large projects into smaller tasks
• 'To-do' lists or checklists
• Regular meetings with supervisors

Learning disability

• Smartphones or PDAs to assist with memory and planning
• Task cards
• ‘To-do’ lists or checklists
• Screen-reading software
• Speech-to-text dictation software
• Provide different coloured paper
• Verbal instructions

Long-term or chronic health condition

• Air-conditioning
• Height-adjustable work stations
• Changes to lighting (e.g. increased natural light, removal of fluorescent lighting)
• Flexible working arrangements (e.g. working from home or working part-time)
• Progression planning may be required for degenerative conditions (e.g. car parks, ramps, lifts or bathroom modifications)

Common workplace adjustments 

• Allowing a person with a disability to have some flexibility in their working hours, such as working part-time or starting and finishing later
• Moving a person with disability to a different location (e.g. a site closer to their home, the ground floor or allowing them to work from home)
• Moving furniture, widening a doorway or providing a ramp so that a person using a wheelchair or other mobility aid can get around comfortably and safely
• Redistributing some minor duties (not inherent requirements of a job) that a person with disability finds difficult to do 
• Allowing a person with disability time off during working hours for rehabilitation, assessment or treatment (e.g. physiotherapy or psychotherapy appointments)
• Providing additional training, mentoring, supervision and support
• Purchasing or modifying equipment, such as speech recognition software for someone with vision impairment, an amplified phone for a person who is hard of hearing, or a digital recorder for someone who finds it difficult to take written notes
• Making changes to tests and interviews so that a person with disability can demonstrate their ability to do the job 
• Providing readers who will read out documents for someone with low vision or learning disability