Employers are urged to remove barriers at work to meet the needs of the disabled following Jane Cordell’s discrimination case against the Foreign Office.

Ms Cordell is profoundly deaf and needs full time lip speaking support.

She has worked for the Foreign Office since 2001. From 2006 until January 2010, she held the post of First Secretary at the British Embassy in Warsaw, Poland. She worked with a full-time lip speaker to help her to fulfil her role.

She was offered the Deputy Head of Mission post in Kazakhstan – conditional on an assessment of reasonable adjustments under the Foreign Office’s reasonable adjustments policy that required special consideration of any adjustments of £10,000 or more.

The adjustments were costed at £695,000 for a two-year posting and £990,000 for three years.

Ms Cordell estimated they would cost no more than £200,000.

The post was offered to someone else because of the costs and the risk that continuity of lip speaking support could not be guaranteed in Kazakhstan.

Ms Cordell claimed this was discrimination based on disability. The claim and subsequent appeal were dismissed.

Mike Smith, commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who chairs also chairs the group’s disability committee, said: “The commission supported Jane Cordell because we know how important it is that reasonable adjustments are provided to let disabled people participate realise their potential.

“I am concerned that 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. I call on the government and employers to develop new and creative ways of delivering support for disabled people, so that everyone in employment can maximise their contribution to both their employer and society.

‘”Later this year, the commission will launch the next phase of our Working Better programme, which will show employers how to design new ways of working and use flexible working practices to open up better opportunities for disabled people.”