Reading at work: practical approaches and asking for adjustments

9 minute read · updated October 28, 2026

21 sources: 18 government or law, 3 charity or professional body

Long documents, heavy email and written instructions are easier to manage with a few habits and tools, such as listening while reading and asking for material before meetings. Many countries require employers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled workers; whether you are covered depends on the law and your facts, and a diagnosis is not always needed to ask.

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Most jobs now involve more reading than people expect: policies, tickets, contracts, chat threads and a steady stream of email. The suggestions below are practical ideas, not proven methods, and different people find different ones useful. The second half of the page explains how workplace adjustment rules work in several countries.

Long documents

Read the headings, summary and any bold text first, then decide which sections you actually need.
Ask what decision the document is for. A two-line question to the author ("Which sections matter for my team?") can save an hour.
Listen and read together using a built-in read-aloud tool; see reading tools and accessibility features for where to find them.
Widen line spacing or use a reader view when the document is on screen. Ask for an editable file rather than a scanned PDF where you can.
Keep a running list of terms and acronyms with plain definitions for your job.

Email and chat

Batch email into two or three set times a day if your role allows it, so each message gets full attention.
For a long thread, read the newest message first, then scroll back only as far as you need.
Use dictation for first drafts and a spelling and grammar checker for review, then have the final version read aloud before sending.
Save templates for replies you write often.
If a message is unclear, reply with your understanding in one sentence and ask the sender to confirm.

Meetings

The British Dyslexia Association's 2023 guide for employers suggests providing agendas and information in advance of meetings, and lists delegating note-taking to a colleague, note-taking software and devices that let a meeting be recorded as possible adjustments.^[1] Recording a meeting usually needs the agreement of the people in it and may be governed by company policy, so ask first.

Ask for the agenda and any papers a day or two ahead so you can listen to them first.
Agree in advance who takes notes, and ask for action points in a short written list afterward.
Use automatic captions or a meeting transcript if your company allows them.

Written instructions and procedures

Ask for numbered steps rather than paragraphs, and for one instruction per line.
Confirm verbal instructions with a short follow-up message so you have them in writing.
Turn a long procedure into a checklist you can tick, and ask your manager to check it once.
For safety-critical instructions, ask for a walk-through in person as well as the written version.

Asking for adjustments

Many workplaces will make simple changes on request without any formal process. When you want something more formal, describe the task, the barrier and the change you are asking for. The BDA's employer guide says the diagnosis is not necessarily important for providing reasonable adjustments, that the impact on everyday tasks is what matters, and that a diagnostic report should not be a requirement for receiving adjustments.^[1] That is the BDA's recommendation to employers; legal rules on evidence vary by country, as the notes below explain.

A short request you can adapt

The task: which part of my job involves this reading or writing?
The barrier: what happens now, with a recent dated example?
The change: what specific adjustment am I asking for (software, format, time, or a different way of receiving information)?
The result: how would the change help me do the job, and how will we check it is working?
Review: when shall we look at this again?

Keep a copy of what you asked for and the reply. Deciding what to tell an employer is up to you; if you would rather not share a diagnosis, you can usually start by describing the practical barrier.

Legal context by country

Where you live matters

United States: the ADA

The employment part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), covers employers with 15 or more employees and defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, a record of one, or being regarded as having one. Listed examples of reasonable accommodation include modified equipment, adjusted training materials and providing readers, and an employer does not have to provide an accommodation that would cause undue hardship.^[2] EEOC guidance says a request can be in plain English, need not mention the ADA, and does not have to be in writing; when the disability or need is not obvious, the employer may ask for reasonable documentation. The employer can choose among effective accommodations, giving primary consideration to the employee's preference.^[3] The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) offers free, confidential guidance, and its learning disability page lists reading-related ideas such as text readers, screen reading software and optical character recognition.^[4]

Where you live matters

Canada

Under the Canadian Human Rights Act, federally regulated employers such as banks, Crown corporations, broadcasters and the federal public service have a legal duty to accommodate, and the Canadian Human Rights Commission says workers do not have to disclose a specific medical diagnosis, only the workplace barriers they face.^[15] Accommodation can be refused only to the point of undue hardship, and an employee cannot insist on the ideal option if a reasonable one is offered.^[16] Provinces have their own human rights laws. In Ontario, for example, the Human Rights Code definition of disability includes a learning disability,^[17] and the Ontario Human Rights Commission says an organization can generally ask about the nature of a disability, as opposed to a medical diagnosis.^[18]

Across these countries, three points hold. Coverage depends on the specific law and the facts. A formal diagnosis is not always required before you ask for a change, though an employer may ask for some evidence in some situations. And no private report, including anything produced by this site, guarantees a particular outcome. For preparing an assessment if you decide you want one, see preparing for an assessor.

Review status

Source-checked, not expert-reviewed

Drafted with AI assistance. Each factual claim was checked against the source it links to on 2026-10-28. No clinician, psychologist or dyslexia specialist has reviewed this page. See the claims register.

Sources

[1]Dyslexia friendly workplaces: a guide for employers. British Dyslexia Association, 2023. Accessed 2026-10-28. Charity or professional body
[2]The ADA: your employment rights as an individual with a disability. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[3]Enforcement guidance on reasonable accommodation and undue hardship under the ADA. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[4]Accommodation and compliance: learning disability. Job Accommodation Network (JAN). Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[5]Equality Act 2010, section 6: Disability. legislation.gov.uk, 2010. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[6]Equality Act 2010, section 20: Duty to make adjustments. legislation.gov.uk, 2010. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[7]Reasonable adjustments for workers with disabilities or health conditions. GOV.UK. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[8]Equality Act 2010, section 217: Extent. legislation.gov.uk, 2010. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[9]Access to Work: eligibility. GOV.UK. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[10]Access to Work: get support if you have a disability or health condition. GOV.UK. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[11]Support while in work. nidirect (Northern Ireland Government). Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[12]Access to Work (NI): practical help at work. nidirect (Northern Ireland Government). Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[13]Employment Equality Act 1998, section 2 (as enacted): definition of disability. Irish Statute Book, 1998. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[14]Disability and work. Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC). Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[15]Workplace accommodation: a guide for federally regulated employers. Canadian Human Rights Commission. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[16]Duty to accommodate. Canadian Human Rights Commission. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[17]Policy on ableism and discrimination based on disability, section 2: What is disability?. Ontario Human Rights Commission. Accessed 2026-10-28. Charity or professional body
[18]Policy on ableism and discrimination based on disability, section 8: Duty to accommodate. Ontario Human Rights Commission. Accessed 2026-10-28. Charity or professional body
[19]Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth), compilation of 8 October 2026. Federal Register of Legislation, Australian Government, 1992. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[20]A brief guide to the Disability Discrimination Act (Internet Archive snapshot of 2025-12-18). Australian Human Rights Commission. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law
[21]JobAccess home page (Internet Archive snapshot of 2026-10-16). JobAccess, Australian Government Department of Social Services. Accessed 2026-10-28. Government or law