>@Luis Alvarez/Getty Images
©Luis Alvarez/ Getty Images

In the context of our commitment to more inclusive communications, the EIB has developed a series of easy-to-read pages on the EIB website. These first pages include The EIB at a glance, as well as easy-to-read versions of our main pages on climatedevelopment and COVID-19 response

The pages have short, clear sentences. The sentences are broken up into short lines. That divides them into easily understood chunks of meaning. On the pages we use simple vocabulary, too.

The easy-to-read pages were prepared in collaboration with Inclusion Europe, an NGO that works to support equal rights and full participation in society for people with intellectual disabilities.

Disability inclusive language

The use of inclusive language can have a significant impact on the inclusion of people with disabilities and can contribute to their full participation in our societies and our economies.

Using inclusive language means that we can create a truer representation of our diverse society. It is also free from phrases or nuances that reflect prejudiced, stereotypical or discriminatory views towards certain groups of people.

Diversity and inclusion at the EIB

The EIB Group’s commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workplace filters through to our commitment to inclusive language. Here at the EIB we recognise that with inclusive language and communication we can foster the participation of diverse talents, skills and abilities in the success of the EU bank, thus making the EIB an organisation where people feel they belong.

The EIB is also very sensitive to the words that we use in our engagement with our staff. When it comes to disability in particular, the EU bank is open to both a person-first (person with disabilities) and an identity-first (deaf person, autistic person) approach to respect the dignity of the individual. As a rule of thumb we encourage our staff to ask in a non-judgemental and open-minded manner to ask what the individual prefers.

Moreover, there are an estimated 750 000 Deaf Sign Language users in the EU and having some knowledge of even a few of the most common everyday signs can be another open door to inclusive relations in our society. The EIB has held internal events on Sign Language earlier in 2021 and Sign Language classes will be organised for staff in 2022 and beyond!