u/Vequihellin

My husband works for a government organisation. He's been employed for 6 years. When he was applying to this organisation, they refused to give him additional time in the entrance exams unless he spent his own money on an adult Dyslexia assessment (despite his Dyslexia being in his medical records from childhood).

Once he did this, they allowed him extra time and he passed. He joined the organisation and was then told by line managers and others that he should have been granted the adjustments without the formal assessment, and that the organisation would have paid for his assessment after the fact. I supply this detail to demonstrate that this organisation has a history of being difficult about reasonable adjustments particularly around dyslexia and exam accommodations.

Fast forward 6 years to now. He has to take regular training courses, exams, etc as part of his role. It is required for him to remain qualified to use certain equipment. Up until now, he has not had a problem with obtaining reasonable adjustments. His personnel file contains an occupational health statement as well as his dyslexia assessment.

So here is the current problem: He's been signed up for a course and reached out to the trainers asking for the course reading material in advance as a reasonable adjustment for his dyslexia. They have refused stating that he needs to provide a 'Workplace disability passport' to 'prove' his right to request reasonable adjustments. His personnel record has the letter from OH and his formal assessment. He sent a copy of his formal assessment to the trainers. To our understanding, the workplace passport is not a mandatory requirement and he has provided them adequate evidence of his disability. They are still refusing to send him the reading material without this 'Disability passport' thing, claiming that it is 'sensitive information'. I'm not sure why him having a disability passport would make it less sensitive?

We are hitting a brick wall with this because they are refusing to budge without this passport thing, but it is not an official or mandatory requirement. Without the pre-reading, he will be severely disadvantaged on the course as they are often too fast-paced for him to keep up with.

His line manager has gotten involved and the trainers are also refusing his authorisation too. I have already recommended that my husband contact his union rep, but he doesn't know who it is. I have told him to find out. I have also told him to contact Acas. But we're on a time crunch here. The course starts next week.

We were hoping this sub might be able to help us find the right 'official' words we can use to push back using the EQ2010 because right now we're at stalemate. Noone at his station has any idea how he can get this alleged 'workplace disability passport' as they've never heard of it before now. We're kinda stuck. Any advice would be appreciated.