Case study: fighting for reasonable adjustments - Part 1
When Access to Work stops working: John’s fight for reasonable adjustments
Access to Work grants can transform lives. But what happens when the progress halts to a complete stop at the very beginning?
If you’ve ever felt stuck waiting for Access to Work to respond, or found that your needs weren’t being understood, you’re not alone. Many applicants encounter roadblocks like that, which is exactly why stories like John’s matter.
This case study explores the real-life journey of John as he navigates the Access to Work system and fights for his right to simple reasonable adjustments. Through detailed accounts of his background, the challenges he faced, the strategies he employed, and the personal impact of the process, the aim of this case study series is to give readers a transparent and relatable example of what self-advocacy can look like in practice.
What this case study isn’t: This case study was not created to prescribe a single path you must take or offer definitive advice. Instead, we share John’s story as a resource for others, taking care to highlight both the obstacles and the tactics that have helped him persist. By documenting the steps he took, the setbacks he encountered, and the lessons he learned, we hope to empower readers to make informed decisions about their own situations.
This case study is intended as a guide and a source of solidarity for anyone facing similar challenges with the Access to Work system. While the journey to secure your rights can be difficult and ongoing, it is possible to stand up for yourself, learn from each experience, and even contribute to broader change while doing so.
Identifiable information like names, organisation names, and locations have been modified to keep personal information confidential.
John’s background
John has a long history of advocating for accessibility and inclusion, particularly within the financial services sector. Over the years, he has combined lived experience, professional insight, and innovative projects to highlight the barriers faced by disabled people and find practical solutions to them.
John is open about his neurodiversity. He has Asperger’s, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, ADHD, and challenging behaviour. He also describes himself as a visual learner. This means he relies on Easy Read formats, visual aids, and templates to process information in a way that’s accessible to him. Written communication, e.g. managing emails, can be overwhelming to him, and he often needs structured support to keep on top of organisation and information management.
He also experiences social anxiety and difficulties with conflict. In the workplace, he requires support to manage these challenges so that his expertise and creativity can be applied most effectively.
In 2013, John began trading as Life on the Spectrum, an initiative rooted in his own lived experience of neurodiversity. By 2021, it became a limited company. Later, he went on to establish a social enterprise called Hidden Strengths, through which he partnered with a reputable UK university with a court affiliation to create programmes for their law students.
During this period, John was awarded a three-year Access to Work grant with full-time support worker hours. This support allowed him to continue his projects and run his organisation effectively.
You might recognise parts of yourself in John: his creativity, his drive to make systems fairer, and his need for clear, structured communication. His story shows how these strengths can shine even when the system isn’t built to support them.
Problems with the Access to Work application
A simple request for reasonable adjustments
With time, Hidden Strengths came to a natural close, and John transitioned into focusing again on Life on the Spectrum. With a change in his job, John made a new application to Access to Work.
For anyone new to Access to Work: it’s a UK government scheme that funds practical support so disabled and neurodivergent people can work effectively.
Things started well: John applied before his new role began, which meant his application was fast-tracked and he had a case manager reach out to him in just 20 days. But his luck ran out at that point.
From the first time John’s case manager contacted him, his experience with the Access to Work process was fraught with significant challenges and systemic issues. John clearly stated his need for reasonable adjustments from the very start, even adding them to his Access to Work application.
His requests were simple: communication via video calls he can record (rather than phone calls), and using Easy Read format for written communication. However, these requests for reasonable adjustments were ignored, and John received a phone call from his case manager.
If you’ve ever had your access needs brushed aside, you’ll know how demoralising it feels. Each time it happens, it’s a reminder of how often disabled and neurodivergent people have to prove their needs are real.
No way forward?
When John’s reasonable adjustments were denied, it effectively stalled the entire process before it could even begin. John’s Access to Work case manager refused to accommodate John until he first passed security checks over the phone, which John wasn’t able to do. His need for either video calls or Easy Read documents for communication wasn’t met.
So the process came to a grinding halt: the case manager couldn’t progress the case until security checks were passed, but John was not able to pass these checks over the phone. When John requested accommodation again, he was told these could only be provided after the security checks were done!
This was especially frustrating for John because he successfully obtained reasonable adjustments during his previous Access to Work award (including a dedicated point of contact and documents in Easy Read format). However, even during the lifetime of his previous award, he felt these accommodations were gradually reduced or withdrawn over time.
He likened this to how you “boil the frog”: adjustments may be initially granted, but are then slowly taken away until none remain, often without the recipient realising until it’s too late. At this stage, he was left with no existing adjustments at all.
A familiar struggle
John reflected on his previous experiences where he saw systemic barriers in action, and how they affected otherwise brilliant systems.
You might have had moments where you wondered why good intentions don’t translate into real change. John had a story to share about how progress often gets stuck, not because of a lack of care, but because of rigid systems that resist flexibility.
In the past, John’s partnership with the UK university and the projects they ran together proved highly successful. Psychology and law students volunteered their time to support John’s projects in areas such as emotional support, research, and legal work. The collaboration was mutually beneficial: John gained valuable support in his projects, and the students received meaningful experience related to their studies.
One project, which later won Best Project of the Year, involved creating Easy Read versions of court forms to make the legal system more accessible.
However, John’s work with the university and the courts highlighted systemic issues: while the courts were happy to have students help with accessibility projects, they were reluctant to use the accessible documents the students created. Their reasoning was that they’d have to formally contract out the work and use specific providers (who were often slower).
In practice, this led to delays in court cases, and the important work around accessibility that the students worked on was not implemented.
The flaws in the Equality Act
This experience left John with an important realisation: while the Equality Act and similar policies created for equity are well-intentioned, they only work if you can fight to enforce them. And for many, that fight often takes more energy than they can spare.
If that sounds exhausting, it’s because it is. Many disabled and neurodivergent people find that standing up for their rights takes far more energy than it should. Knowing that doesn’t fix the problem, but it gives you an important starting point: we all need to be clear on how far we’re able to go to assert our needs.
Today, John continues to focus on Life on the Spectrum, where he uses lived experience to highlight and fight the barriers faced by visual learners and people with challenging behaviour. His goal is to showcase the everyday obstacles disabled people encounter and to raise awareness of the systemic changes still needed.
John uses his superpowers in resilience and a commitment to systemic change, and draws from his own experiences to advocate for others. His goal is to create practical solutions that empower other disabled people to navigate barriers similar to his own.
Fighting back against Access to Work
As we’ve seen, John has a wealth of experience fighting barriers in action. But despite this and knowing the system inside out, even he struggled with Access to Work.
Even experienced advocates can hit systemic barriers. And the first hurdle is often simply getting basic adjustments respected.
It’s okay to feel defeated when you hit walls like this. Most people do. What matters isn’t pretending it’s easy, but finding small ways to keep going, just like John did.
John’s experience allowed him to assess his situation strategically from the very start. While the problem he ran into with his Access to Work case manager was obviously unfortunate, he didn’t waste time licking his wounds. Instead, he created his action plan and quickly started setting things in motion.
What can we learn?
John’s story has only just started, but it already offers important lessons for anyone going through Access to Work or similar systems. Whether you’re new to self-advocacy or have been doing it for years, use these reminders to stay grounded when the process gets tough:
Lesson 1: Even experienced advocates can hit systemic barriers.
No matter how knowledgeable or prepared you are, services like Access to Work often default to rigid, one-size-fits-all processes. The first challenge is rarely about your eligibility, but more about getting your needs recognised and respected.
Hitting a wall doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you’re coming up against a system that wasn’t built with your access needs in mind.
Lesson 2: Keep everything in writing.
Whenever you request adjustments, do it in writing. For example, John added his request for reasonable adjustments to his Access to Work application. You can use the “any other comments” free-text section at the end of the application to do this.
If you get any responses to your requests, save the responses you get. If your requests are ignored or dismissed, that written record becomes your evidence, not just for complaints, but for showing a consistent pattern of communication. It’s one of the most effective tools you have for being taken seriously.
Lesson 3: What you do doesn’t have to be perfect
When it comes to self-advocacy, it’s important to remember that it doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to keep going. Neurodiverse folks are prone to overthinking things, but this shouldn’t stop you.
Every email you send, every time you restate your access needs, and every complaint you file builds consistency and momentum.
Over time, those small actions help build a clearer path forward for you. And who knows, maybe even for the next person who faces the same barriers.
And you don’t have to have the perfect words or endless energy. Persistence itself is powerful advocacy.
Lesson 4: Decide early how much energy you want to invest
One of the first things John did was take stock of how far he was willing (and able) to push. Fighting for your rights under systems like Access to Work can be draining, and it’s okay to set boundaries around how much time or emotional energy you can spend.
Some battles are worth pursuing to the end, and others might not be.
Thinking about this in advance helps you stay in control and prevents burnout. Choosing not to fight every single issue isn’t giving up. When you’re disabled, being strategic about your wellbeing is a very important step.
Stay tuned
How exactly did John fight back? The next part of the case study will cover the steps John took to get his reasonable adjustments put in place. We’ll go through what he did, what worked, and what had the biggest impact. You’ll see exactly what John tried, what worked, what didn’t, and the strategies he used to keep his case moving forward. Along the way, we’ll highlight key lessons you can use in your own dealings with Access to Work.
So stay tuned to learn more about how to fight for reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act!
Follow John’s journey as it’s unfolding. Will he get the support he needs? How will he get there?
If you’re on your own Access to Work journey, follow along with John’s story. You may find strategies that make your own process smoother, or at least feel a little less like you’re shouting into the void.
