Legal action
Ensuring adjustments are made for students with dyslexia
Published: 15 February 2022
Last updated: 15 February 2022
What countries does this apply to?
Case details
| Protected Characteristic | Disability |
|---|---|
| Types of equality claim | Reasonable adjustments |
| Court or tribunal | County Court |
| Law applies in | England, Scotland, Wales |
| Case state | Concluded |
| Our involvement | Legal assistance (section 28 of the Equality Act 2006) |
| Outcome | Settlement |
| Areas of life | Education |
Case name: Q v C University
The claimant was a medical student with dyslexia. He failed an assessment which was necessary to continue his course but claimed this was because the university did not make reasonable adjustments for him. This would make him a victim of disability discrimination.
Legal issue
Is it the university's duty to make reasonable adjustments?
Why we were involved
It is our duty to uphold the Equality Act. We believed that the university had failed in their duty to make reasonable adjustments and that the student was a victim of disability discrimination.
What we did
We provided legal assistance to this case, to clarify how the reasonable adjustment duty applies to universities.
What happened
The student’s case was settled out-of-court and he was allowed to retake the assessment with suitable adjustments made and the university agreed to review which adjustments it makes for disabled students.
Who will benefit
Figures suggest there are around 300,000 disabled people studying at universities in the UK.
It is unacceptable that someone’s career prospects can be damaged by the failure of a university to support disabled people; we are pleased that the student’s case was resolved and we hope other universities will recognise their responsibility to make suitable adjustments for disabled students.
Date of hearing
Page updates
Published:
15 February 2022
Last updated:
15 February 2022
