Helping a woman with mental health conditions access justice (XX v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions)
A woman has mental health issues and claimed Employment and Support Allowance. She was referred to the Work Programme, which involves work-focused interviews and activities designed to improve people’s chances of finding work. She found it difficult to attend these because no adjustments had been made for her mental health impairments. She experienced deterioration in her health as a result of attempting to carry out the mandatory activities. She brought claims for failure to make reasonable adjustments and indirect disability discrimination.
Ensuring adjustments are made for students with dyslexia (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.
Improving public transport for disabled people (Paulley v First Group PLC)
A disabled man was unable to board a bus because a passenger with a pushchair refused to vacate the wheelchair space. The man successfully brought a claim for discrimination against the bus company. The company appealed twice in the Supreme Court, which is where our involvement began.
Challenging race discrimination against Irish Travellers (M & Ors v A Pub)
A group of Irish Travellers were refused service in a pub because of their race. We supported them to bring a successful claim for race discrimination.
Protecting a toddler's right to education (X and Y v Nursery )
Following concerns raised by parents of a two-year-old that a nursery had not made reasonable adjustments for their disabled child, we provided legal assistance so the parents could challenge the nursery's actions.
Stopping a school from using a discriminatory hairstyle policy (Ruby Williams vs Urswick School)
A pupil, Ruby, took her school to court after it enforced a uniform policy that banned Afro hair of excessive volume. When the school didn’t respond to the claim, the court issued a default judgment in her favour and the family reached a settlement. We funded the case through court and secured a legally binding agreement with the school to ensure it ended the discriminatory policy and considered factors such as race and religion when determining what a ‘reasonable’ hairstyle was.
Helping disabled tenants to make reasonable adjustments to their homes (Andrew Smailes, Stacey Poyner-Smailes and Clewer Court Residents Ltd )
A disabled woman needed to make reasonable adjustments to her home, but because she was renting, they were refused by the landlord. We successfully funded this case to clarify whether a term in the lease prohibiting alterations is contrary to the Equality Act.