British hair stylist says she faced discrimination because of her dyslexia

From the Birmingham Mail in the UK:

A hair stylist at a Midland salon has claimed her life was made a misery because colleagues laughed at her and made her feel stupid due to a disability.

Lydia James (pictured), who suffers from dyslexia, or word blindness, claimed at an Employment Tribunal in Birmingham that she was told not to use her condition as an excuse for being unable to write properly.

The 20-year-old, from Astwood Bank, near Redditch, resigned from her job at Mavericks Hair Design in Alcester, Warwickshire, last November after almost three years.

Miss James, who is now working for another hairdresser in Redditch, appeared at the tribunal yesterday for a preliminary hearing into her claim for direct disability discrimination.

But tribunal chairman David Dimbylow ruled that the claim could not proceed. He concluded that there was no expectation on the part of Mavericks that Ms James was seeking disability discrimination when she wrote her letter of resignation.

“The letter is of unreasonable conduct, not disability discrimination,” he said.

Ms James, through her solicitor Mr Adem Muzaffer, told the tribunal she had been “picked upon” throughout her time at Mavericks.

“I was belittled and treated unfairly and not offered any help. I was left to feel stupid and not very intelligent.”

She claimed that staff referred to her as ‘silly little Lydia’ and laughed at her when her father revealed that she could not read until she was five years old.

“I found this extremely upsetting and demeaning.”

She claimed she was also told not to use her dyslexia as an excuse when staff were asked to do a written test.

Charles Price, for Mavericks, told the hearing that Miss James’s resignation letter made no reference to her dyslexia, and argued that it was too late to amend the tribunal claim form to include new allegations.

Mr Muzaffer, in response, called for “greater leniency” to be shown to her claim.

“She cannot be expected to express clearly her thoughts and feelings in writing, due to her dyslexia.”

He argued that the Employment Act should be changed because of the “flaw” that required dyslexics to state their grievance in writing.