Jane Cordell, who is profoundly Deaf, lost her employment appeal tribunal in a disability discrimination case against the Foreign Office over the cost of providing her with lip-speakers.

Cordell had been offered the job of deputy ambassador to Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan, but the offer was withdrawn because the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said the cost of providing lip-speakers would be too high.

She had estimated the cost to be less than £200,000 a year, while the FCO’s estimate was more than £300,000 a year.

Liz Sayce, chief executive of RADAR, said she was “deeply disappointed” that a “talented disabled woman” had been prevented from pursuing her chosen career.

She said: “We understand that costs are one consideration, but so are the benefits that talented disabled people bring to senior roles, bringing resilience, empathy and problem-solving, acting as role models for others and – in this case – representing their country.”

She said there were “very few” disabled people who needed expensive adjustments to work, with most costing nothing or “a few hundred pounds”, while “funding the occasional situation where someone has greater needs is a good investment”.

Sayce added: “This judgement sets the clock back and seems to fly in the face of the government’s commitment to improving disabled people’s career opportunities.”

Mike Smith, a commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and chair of its disability committee, said the EHRC had supported Cordell’s case “because we know how important it is that reasonable adjustments are provided to allow disabled people to participate fully in the workforce and realise their potential”.

He added: “I am concerned that the outcome of this appeal sends the message that disabled people should not expect to get to the top of their profession, if they have significant support needs.”

Cordell had been praised by the FCO for her performance in her previous posting in Poland – and received awards from the Polish authorities for her disability rights work – for which the government provided lip-speakers at an annual cost of about £146,000.

But a new FCO reasonable adjustments policy was introduced after she started working in Poland.

An FCO spokesman said: “FCO welcomes the outcome of this case but we regret that it came to legal action.

“The FCO is fully committed to equality of opportunity and to making reasonable adjustments to allow disabled staff to enjoy the fullest possible FCO career.

“In this case, we do not believe the adjustments that would have been required – costing in excess of £0.5million over two years – would by any measure be considered reasonable.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com

Jane Cordell, who is profoundly Deaf, had been offered the job of deputy ambassador to Kazakhstan and Kyrgystan, but the offer was withdrawn because the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said the cost of providing lip-speakers to support her would be too high.

Cordell, who now has a London desk job, had been praised by the FCO for her performance in her previous posting in Poland – and received awards from the Polish authorities for her disability rights work – for which the government provided lip-speakers at an annual cost of about £146,000.

But the employment tribunal heard that a new FCO reasonable adjustments policy had been introduced after Cordell started working in Poland.

She argued that funding lip-speakers for the Kazakhstan posting was a “reasonable adjustment” under the Disability Discrimination Act, and estimated the cost to be about £200,000 a year, while the FCO’s estimate was nearly £300,000.

But the tribunal found that the FCO did not discriminate against her by refusing to fund the lip-speakers, and dismissed her claims for direct disability discrimination, disability-related discrimination and a failure to make reasonable adjustments.

In its judgment, the tribunal said the likely annual cost of the adjustments was more than five times Cordell’s salary, which would not be “reasonable”.

Cordell said she was proud of her work with the FCO, but added: “I am also proud to have brought my case to tribunal. People with disabilities and long-term illnesses who want to be economically active and independent need answers to the questions the case poses.”

RADAR said it was “shocked” by the FCO’s failure to fund the adjustments Cordell needed, which is said was a “real setback” to equality in the workplace.

Liz Sayce, RADAR’s chief executive, said the decision “puts a cap on ambition” and sends the message to disabled people that “the highest level jobs will be debarred” and that some of them “are just too expensive to employ and will never achieve equality”.

She said that Cordell “could have been an incredible international role model and ambassador for Britain”.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which helped fund Cordell’s case, said her career was now “in limbo” because the FCO had failed to clarify how much support she was entitled to, a decision which “directly influences whether she can be posted abroad in the future”.

An EHRC spokeswoman said: “We thought it was an interesting test case because she is such a high-flyer, a senior woman. We thought we might get some clarity around what tribunals thought was reasonable.”

She added: “It is important that reasonable adjustments are provided to allow disabled people to participate fully in the workforce and allow talented people like Jane to realise their full potential.”

News provided by John Pring at www.disabilitynewsservice.com