Independent journalism and free advocacy
About The Reasonable Adjustment
The Reasonable Adjustment (TRA) reports on how public bodies, charities, employers and healthcare providers treat the people who depend on them. The work is built on documents: Freedom of Information requests, subject access requests, published policies and correspondence. It covers disability rights, data protection, safeguarding, public spending and medical cannabis.
Independent, self-funded and based in Tyneside
TRA has no advertising and no paywall. It isn't owned, managed or financed by an employer, government body, healthcare provider or commercial sponsor, and organisations don't pay for coverage or influence what gets published.
Kieron JH
Kieron is the founder, writer and researcher behind TRA. He is autistic. His speech was significantly delayed and he was largely non-verbal until around the age of four, with speech and other therapy from 2003. He was not diagnosed until his early teens.
He spent his education in the special educational needs system, including Maplewood School, a specialist school in Sunderland, and the post-16 department of a special school for children with severe disabilities. Growing up inside systems that expect disabled people to put up with inaccessible communication and unexplained decisions shapes what TRA covers and how.
Most of the work starts with records: what an organisation says, what its documents show, and whether the two match. Alongside the reporting, he builds free tools for redaction, data requests, Equality Act revision and medical cannabis cost planning.
Reporting that starts close to home
Some of TRA's reporting comes directly out of Kieron's own schooling and the people he grew up alongside.
Jason Arday, non-verbal autism and the people behind the claims
Kieron was largely non-verbal until around four and later studied alongside Morten, a schoolmate with severe communication difficulties who communicated through BSL with one-to-one support. The piece asks why public claims about being non-verbal matter to autistic people who were.
Read the article: Jason Arday, non-verbal autism and the people behind the claimsPhilip Watson: jailed teaching assistant worked at Sunderland SEND school
Kieron attended Maplewood School years after offending that a court has now proven, and remembers Watson still working there. The report sets out what the court, Northumbria Police and Ofsted records show, and asks former pupils and staff to get in touch.
Read the report: Philip Watson: jailed teaching assistant worked at Sunderland SEND schoolOur mission
What TRA is for: evidence-first help for people mistreated by systems that were supposed to help them, and careful publication when silence is the tactic.
Read the mission: Our missionSupporting TRA
How readers can help keep the reporting free, including the Research Index membership, sharing and voluntary support.
Ways to support: Supporting TRAHow we work
Primary sources carry the weight, not adjectives. Where we can, we publish the documents behind a story so readers can check them.
- Evidence firstDocuments, logs and records come before opinion. Claims that cannot be supported are removed or reworked.
- Right of replyPeople and organisations we report on can reply or ask for a correction, and we update the page when an error is proven.
- Privacy firstWe do not collect special category data through our forms, and sensitive material is handled on our own systems.
- Open about our toolsWe use AI as an accessibility aid for drafting and clarity. Every piece is checked and signed off by a person before it is published.
Public FOI strategy
How we use Freedom of Information requests to get policy, spending and decision-making on the record, and publish full archives.
Read more: Public FOI strategyRight to reply and corrections
How to ask for a correction or send a reply, what to include, and how we decide.
Send a reply: Right to reply and correctionsAI transparency statement
Why and how we use AI tools, what they are never used for, and the checks every article goes through.
Read more: AI transparency statementWebsite security review
How the site is protected and monitored, and how access is logged, without giving away anything sensitive.
Read more: Website security reviewFree advocacy
Informal, peer-led support. We can help you get organised, understand your rights, make data requests and write to organisations clearly. It is free, and it has firm limits.
Advocacy overview
What we help with: subject access requests, complaints, reasonable adjustments and FOI strategy when organisations go quiet.
Read more: Advocacy overviewBoundaries
What informal advocacy covers, what it does not, and how we handle your information.
Read more: BoundariesWhat we are and what we are not
How TRA differs from a solicitor, and when you need legal advice rather than advocacy.
Read more: What we are and what we are notInformal advocacy agreement
A printable template setting out what support covers. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
Open template: Informal advocacy agreementNot a law firm: TRA does not give legal advice and does not represent other people in court or tribunal proceedings. If you need legal advice or representation, speak to a solicitor. If someone is at immediate risk, contact the emergency services first.
Contact TRA
Use the contact form for general enquiries, advocacy requests and press. For anything sensitive, including tips and whistleblowing, use the secure submission page, which encrypts your message in your browser before it is sent.