Challenging misconceptions about reasonable adjustments

Theatre RVN Lauren Oliver debunks some common myths about workplace rights and reasonable adjustments, particularly when a formal diagnosis has yet to be made. She also emphasises the importance of open communication and collaboration with managers to achieve the best possible support.

An important part of UK legislation when it comes to disability and reasonable adjustments in the workplace is the Equality Act 2010 (in Northern Ireland, protection is provided under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995).

This Act defines disability as one of nine protected characteristics, granting legal protection from discrimination against disability at work (HM Government, 2025).

The Equality Act 2010, Chapter 1 (6), explains reasonable adjustments as an employer's legal duty to ensure an employee who has a disability does not experience a disadvantage compared to an employee without disability. For that reason, reasonable adjustments are personal to the individual and should never be generalised based on assumptions about a particular disability.

The power of open communication

In my own journey navigating working in the veterinary profession with a chronic urogynaecological pain condition, open communication with my manager and seniors has been hugely important. It's helped me explain my disability, how it affects me day-to-day and its impact on workplace activities.

We worked together to alter shift patterns in a way that would allow me to still work full-time while also providing me with a longer recovery period if I was struggling with pain. Like many other health conditions, my condition is dynamic, so it was important that my managers and I discussed how I could communicate to them when I have an acute pain episode. This way, I can remove myself from an activity or initiate finding cover in order that I can administer treatment either at work or at home.

How occupational health can help 

Self-referral or employer referral to occupational health services can also be helpful. It allows an individual to collaborate with occupational health professionals to decide any helpful reasonable adjustments that can be presented to their employer for consideration (ACAS, 2025).

Occupational health brings up a grey area, in that there is currently no legal obligation for an employer to provide or use an occupational health service in the workplace. However, an employee can seek professional medical advice on deciding reasonable adjustments to provide to their employer. If the employer would like professional medical advice that helps both parties regarding reasonable adjustments, they must obtain explicit consent from the employee and clearly explain: 

• why they are proposing to seek an appropriate medical report,
• that they will not access the employee’s medical records – only relevant information, and
• who will see this information.

An employee has a legal right to:

• ask their doctor to withhold specific information,
• see the report before it is shared,
• refuse consent for the report to be shared with an employer should they disagree with its content, and
• decline an employer’s request for medical advice (ACAS, 2023).

You don't need a diagnosis to receive support

Another grey area that I have personally struggled with is understanding my legal rights in the workplace regarding disability discrimination while still undergoing diagnosis. This is when a condition may not have been diagnosed as yet, but the employee is experiencing difficult symptoms. A line manager might wrongly assume that a diagnosis is required in order to grant reasonable adjustments or to prevent points being accrued for the employee’s symptoms on their HR absence tool. However, this is a false misconception. In the past, this has led me - and can lead others - to go down a process of absence disciplinary after reaching HR absence trigger points for their current symptoms.

This again relates back to the Equality Act 2010 ( chapter 1, section 6), which defines disability as being an 'impairment [mental or physical] that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on [a] person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities'. Generally, this means that the difficulties you face have to be having a noticeable effect on your day-to-day life, making your duties more challenging to achieve, and they have to have lasted, or be likely to last, twelve months, or to reoccur (Mind, 2023).

You absolutely can request reasonable adjustments for your mental health.

The final misconception when it comes to reasonable adjustments is that you cannot ask for reasonable adjustments for mental health conditions. It is important to remember that mental health conditions can be just as disabling for the individual as physical health conditions, so they should always be tackled with equal importance. With that in mind, you absolutely can request reasonable adjustments for your mental health if you feel you are at a disadvantage compared to other employees in your workplace without mental health conditions.

These could include:

• Time off to attend therapy sessions or other appointments related to your mental health treatment.
• Changes to shift patterns or working hours.
• Extra support with managing workload (Rethink Mental Illness, 2017).

I have found keeping an open dialogue with my manager when I notice signs of my mental health declining very important in managing my condition at work. It allows my manager to be aware of why I may not be as energetic, and that I may need to talk through a particular difficulty I may be having during the day.

You're not alone: finding help beyond your workplace 

Aside from talking to your manager, medical professionals and occupational health professionals about the support you need for your condition, there are a number of charities and organisations that provide information or advice on disability and reasonable adjustments in the workplace. These include the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), an independent government-funded public body that provides free and impartial advice on best practices, employment rights and workplace conflict resolution, and other support (ACAS, 2022).

It can also be helpful to search for specific health condition charities that can provide evidence-based educational content to help inform your employer about your condition, if you choose to disclose it. In my case, Bladder Health UK have been invaluable in not only providing easy-to-understand information I can show to my employer, but also providing me with a wealth of knowledge and hope for myself to understand more about my condition.

References and resources

• Equality Act 2010, C.1 - UK Government legislation (Accessed 13–14 May 2025)
• Discrimination: your rights - HM Government (2025)
• Using Occupational health at work - ACAS (2025)
• Getting a doctor’s report about an employee’s health - ACAS (2023) 
• Women and Equalities Unit (2013) Disability: Equality Act 2010 - Government Equalities Office guidance on matters to be taken into account in determining questions relating to the definition of disability.
• Disability discrimination - Mind (2023)
• What’s reasonable at work? - Rethink Mental Illness (2017) 

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