Mr Barry Sheridan v Respondent — 2026

At the preliminary hearing on 13 March 2026, the Tribunal considered whether Mr Barry Sheridan was disabled within s.6 of the Equality Act 2010 by reason of brain damage or the effects of strokes, a heart condition or hypertension, and work-related stress and depression. The respondent had accepted that he was disabled due to epilepsy. The Tribunal allowed an unopposed amendment adding work-related stress and depression as an impairment relied upon.

In relation to brain damage and stroke, the Tribunal accepted that Mr Sheridan had experienced strokes and reported missing words in written material and minor effects involving his right arm. It found insufficient medical or corroborative evidence connecting the reported difficulties to the strokes, establishing their frequency or seriousness, or showing an effect that was more than minor or trivial. It also found that the prescription of prophylactic medication did not, without medical evidence about the relevant risk, establish the required deduced effect. Disability on those grounds was therefore not established.

The Tribunal found that the small hole in Mr Sheridan's heart had been asymptomatic, was closed successfully in February 2023, and had not been shown to have a substantial effect on normal day-to-day activities. There was also scant evidence that hypertension caused such an effect, or evidence establishing what would occur if medication ceased. The heart condition and hypertension were not established as qualifying disabilities, either separately or together.

For stress and anxiety, the Tribunal accepted Mr Sheridan's evidence about difficulties with sleep, concentration, motivation and work-related tasks, supported to an extent by GP and occupational health records. It did not find sufficient evidence that he was disabled from February 2023, when the condition could still have been a relatively temporary response to health and workplace difficulties and had not been shown likely to be long term. It concluded that, by October 2024, the work-related stress/anxiety condition was persistent, required workplace adjustments and a phased return, and was likely to last at least 12 months. Mr Sheridan was therefore a disabled person from October 2024 onwards by virtue of that condition.

The Tribunal applied the statutory requirements of a physical or mental impairment having a substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities, including relevant general work activities, and considered the deduced effect of medication. It did not determine the merits of the substantive disability discrimination claim or award any remedy. The case was to proceed to a final hearing.