Swim teaching - To struggle to think of reasonable adjustments for ADHD?

[Gotabadfeelingaboutthis]

So Jenny (not real name) has ADHD and is a swimming teacher.
She presents in a very hyper state for work, is often late and arrives disheveled, disorganised and dysregulated. She also may not have the things she needs with her. In the pool, she is very heightened, which can present as either hyperactive and loud, or dysregulated, snappy, tearful etc. If the children in the pool are struggling to regulate, she becomes very frantic and cries. Jenny does have things going on in her personal life, but she leads a life which appears to lurch from one drama to another, and the people (family) around her exacerbate issues. To add balance, Jenny is also very thoughtful and kind, she does not have a good support network at home, and does want to do well at work.
Her workplace want to put in place reasonable adjustments to support her and enable her to do her job effectively but it is very difficult to think how her ADHD could be accommodated in a swimming pool setting, as things like a quiet room to work in, softer lighting, headphones on etc wouldn't work for a swimming teacher! In terms of her lateness, the way the business operates means she chooses which days she works already. It is so difficult balancing supporting her, with keeping the children in the pool safe and ensuring they are getting effective teaching. I would welcome any suggestions.

Has anyone checked out her actual Swim Teacher qualifications? (ASA if in UK). What level qualification does she actually have, Full Teacher or Assistant?

She needs to find a new job or a new way to teach. I’d find a new teacher tbh. A one off crying etc I would let slide because everyone has shit days but if I thought my Dd was being taught by someone who was late, emotionally unstable and unreliable I wouldn’t be happy.

I had severe mental health issues myself so it’s not that I’m not sympathetic but it’s not right to expect other people to pay to experience that, especially children.

Jenny needs a new job. A swim teacher can't become frantic and cry during a lesson!

The rest she ought to be able to sort with organisation. Someone should help her write a list of what equipment she needs and a timetable for when she should get up inorder to arrive at work calmly and not disheveled.

But if my child's swim teacher got frantic in a swim lesson I'd be looking elsewhere for lessons

Thank you all for your input. A meeting has been arranged with Jenny for Monday to discuss the issues and try to find a way forward. Thank you to the poster who suggested the access to work, regardless of the outcome for her here, that will be a helpful resource for her moving forwards. I agree it can't continue as it is, for many reasons, but you've helped me realise that it isn't unreasonable or discrimination to take action against her performance where safety is being compromised, irrespective of her ADHD. It is such a vitally important role and setting, our children being safe and feeling calm and regulated in the water is the most important focus. I am looking at whether we could set her some clear targets and move her to a poolside/admin/pool hire opening and closing type role for a month to give her time to see if she can learn some better coping strategies and skills to help her regulate herself, with a view to assessing it in 4 weeks. If she hasn't met the targets then unfortunately I think Jenny may need to look for alternative employment. Does that sound reasonable?

What has Jenny tried? Has she taken any responsibility for considering and trying out possible solutions?

One other thing you can try is letting her work short hours, if it fits with how you run the business.

Targets is a bit of a problem, think more aspirations!

Maybe she can regulate for a while, then gets trigger-stacked. I'd also say that if she's in a calm environment, she should be better at regulating. But it's tricky, I never know quite which situations I'll excel or bomb in, bit of a lottery.

There's a lot of adhd people in the first responder services, as the nature of those roles, releases dopamine and they can deal with whatever happens really well.

So I still think there's more going on here...

Good post, helps a lot of us think!

I agree there's more going on. I actually wondered about autism alongside ADHD. Her dysregulation sounds very extreme. But tbh she might just need to learn her personal limitations. I can't bear swimming pools because of the noise / light / screaming of children (I have real noise and light sensitivity). Sometimes there are adjustments which can be made and sometimes there aren't.

Either way she can't compromise the children's safety.

@Gotabadfeelingaboutthis
As someone with ND and from an ND family i think you have to try and think logically about the situation.

Nowhere is it stated that just because we like the idea of something can we necessarily do this as a job. So just as I haven't got the brains to be a nuclear physicist or the temperament to be police officer or the looks to be model Jenny doesn't have the capability to be a swimming instructor.
Simple as.

You don't have to come up with adjustments for the essence of the job. Adjustments should be so that someone who is capable of the job can focus on that and not on all the smaller things that others wouldn't even notice that make their life difficult. Adjustments aren't about helping someone who is incapable of the doing the one thing that is needed.

Reasonable adjustments could very well be the spare set of uniform available, or the extra reminder or even help with admin, ie the smaller and although necessary non essential part of the job, but the actual lessons should be just as good as anyone else. That's the only reason she should have the job.

It's not wrong to say someone isn't cut out for something.

I'm parent to autistic and ADHD kids plus likely have ADHD myself. I work with kids regularly but I am aware it can't be the main part of my job. I find it loads of fun but very intense and I burnout quickly. I do like swimming but there's no way I'd manage hours of screaming kids in that environment in particular.

I think your suggestion of a month trial for a more admin based role is good. Perhaps send her on a time management or similar course too? If that doesn't work the job is clearly unsuitable. As others said not all jobs suit all people and the disability side of things needs 'reasonable' adjustment not a total change of job.

As an aside 90% of people with ADHD have RSD - rejection sensitive dysphoria. If she senses she is failing at her job it's quite likely this will make everything worse. So instead of her making progress and getting better she might struggle more. Pulling back demands and giving her small achievable goals might well reset her anxiety and have a big impact. But not necessarily.

This isn't the job for Jenny and she needs to leave.

It is highly inappropriate for her to be snappy and tearful with/in front of the kids, especially when the pool is a space of anxiety for lots of little children having swimming lessons without parents. I also doubt her ability to keep children safe.

Some places are not able to make accommodations for ADHD, and this is one of them.

What Jenny is like personally or what her home life is like doesn't matter. She can't do her job.