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Welcome back to The Dyslexic/Dyspraxic Social Worker: A conversation starter for social work leaders. This week, in episode four, we will be exploring the question How can leaders encourage reasonable adjustment requests?
Last week, in episode three, we explored what neurodivergent social workers look for in social work employers. This post was broken into four themes feelings, preparation, adaptions, and commitment.
We learnt:
How do you make us feel? How we feel during the application, interview and onboarding can impact whether we want to work somewhere more than the job role itself.
How do you prepare? Preparation and understanding make a significant difference in how you make us feel in the workplace.
How do you make adaptions? adaptions can be made on a micro and macro level. Adaption made for individual social worker happens at a micro level as they support the individual. Whereas adaptions made to whole systems or ways of working are happening at a macro level as they can enable access across the organisation.
What is your organisation's commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion? Being proactive and creating an organisational cultural commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion can impact the changes you make.
How can leaders encourage reasonable adjustment requests?
Social work employers might need to make adjustments to help you do your job as well as someone who is neurotypical. The Equality Act 2010 calls these 'reasonable adjustments'. Reasonable adjustments can be changes to policies, working practices, or providing extra support (Citizens Advice).
Reasonable adjustments, when done right, can significantly positively impact our emotional well-being, physical well-being, and quality of practice. Therefore, as a leader, you must promote and model good practice in relation to reasonable adjustment to encourage us to come forwards to disclose we are neurodivergent and request reasonable adjustments. Moreover, as leaders it should be one of your top priorities to support your social workers to feel happy and supported at work …. Especially your neurodivergent social workers.
Employers that fail to provide reasonable adjustments are leaving themselves liable to claims of discrimination and failure to make reasonable adjustments. Importantly, there is no legal or professional obligation on workers to disclose a neurodivergent condition.
Although workplaces have a legal obligation to provide reasonable adjustments once they have been requested, it can be difficult for neurodivergent social workers to disclose to employers due to negative or traumatic experiences in education and/or previous workplaces.
However, there are a number of things you can do as an employer to support and encourage neurodivergent social workers to request reasonable adjustments.
Are you aware of myths and misconceptions?
People are researching and learning more about neurodivergent brains and people, and because of this, we are learning that what we used to think were facts were actually stigmatising myths that still have a negative impact on neurodivergent people today. Therefore, it’s important for you as a leader to reflect on myths and misconceptions you could be holding and transferring. Below are some questions to support your reflective journey.
What evidenced facts do you know about dyslexia/dyspraxia/autism/ADHD/OCD/dyscalculia etc?
How do you know the difference between a myth and a fact?
What myths and misconceptions have you heard about neurodivergent people?
Could myths and misconceptions be transferred in your conversations about or approach to reasonable adjustments?
How can you develop your knowledge of dyslexia/dyspraxia/autism/ADHD/OCD/dyscalculia etc?
Do you understand different neurodivergent profiles?
You don’t have to be an expert in dyslexia/dyspraxia/autism/ADHD/OCD/dyscalculia etc to support your employees or encourage reasonable adjustments.
However, it can feel like an uphill battle as a neurodivergent social worker to lead a reasonable adjustment meeting whilst also educating those around us. Whilst we are the expert of our own neurodivergent profile, it can feel as though the focus is taken away from making the workplace accessible and is drawn towards others’ development needs.
What do you know about neurodiversity?
What is the difference between neurodiversity and neurodivergent?
What have you previously learned about different neurological profiles?
Did you actively seek this learning through interest?
If you didn’t what impact did this have on your engagement?
Where is your learning coming from?
How do you think knowledge of neurological profiles can help your employees request reasonable adjustments?
Do you need to be the expert in the room?
Do you meet people with curiosity?
What might this look like?
Do you use a co-production model?
Reflecting on your knowledge of neurodivergent profile can act as the foundation for a co-production model. As briefly mentioned above, In one reasonable adjustment meeting, I had to do the heavy lifting. Making suggestions, educating those around me and asking questions about how they have done this before. Being in charge of suggesting all of the reasonable adjustments can take a lot of brain power and having some turned down can be emotionally difficult. I have also had experiences of being told what I can or can’t have based on what they have done for another dyslexic social worker - with little room for my input or consideration for being dyspraxic too.
Therefore, consider a co-production model with your neurodivergent social worker. Avoid doing something to us, avoid not doing anything at all, and instead look to plan reasonable adjustments with us. This might make requesting reasonable adjustments feel a bit easier for us.
Does your organisation have any guidance for managers on reasonable adjustments?
In my first social work role, it took me a little while to disclose my dyslexia. When I did, the team manager was proactive in discussing reasonable adjustments. However, we were both lost in the meeting. I had never had a reasonable adjustment put in place for my placement, so I didn’t know what to ask for, and they had never contributed to a reasonable adjustment meeting. We were both novices finding our way in the dark. We both needed guidance!
Upon reflection, we were both feeling vulnerable in the meeting and both felt a lot of pressure to get things right. However, if we had a document which was co-produced with multiple neurodivergent social workers, that gave examples of things that have worked in the past for different needs (sensory, executive function etc) it would have guided our conversation by giving us a starting point.
If episode four of a conversation starter for social work leaders has given you the building blocks to reflect on reasonable adjustments in your organisation, and you would like to do more…. Join me next week when we explore the question How can leaders address bias?
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