DIY meets DEI | B&Q creates inclusive language handbook for staff

B&Q has created an inclusive language guide for its staff, advising against using phrases that may bring negative connotations to certain disabilities.

The DIY chain has, for example, suggested staff avoid using terms at work such as ‘blind drunk’ or ‘deaf to our pleas’ , as was first reported by The Telegraph. 

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The guidance reminds employees to “understand that offensive language often includes words and phrases that reinforce stereotypes, reinforce derogatory labels, exclude certain groups of people, patronise or trivialise certain groups of people”.

It adds: “Common phrases that may associate impairments with negative things should be avoided, for example ‘deaf to our pleas’ or ‘blind drunk’,”.