AXSChat Podcast with Bianca Prins - Global Head of Accessibility at ING Bank

"I’m Bianca Prins, Global Head of Accessibility at ING Bank. I’m working on disability inclusion and an accessible ING for all. Ever since 2010 I’ve been working as an activist for disability rights in The Netherlands. My role was political advice impacting new disability legislation. In 2015 the UN CRPD was signed by The Netherlands, that year I started my journey at ING. I started with the disability hiring program ‘Unknown Talent’ as Environment and Social Risk Advisor within Global Risk. My European activities in Brussels, in my advocacy role, showed me the opportunities for disability Inclusion. When I got the question to write a plan for accessibility I jumped on, and before I knew I was pitching for our CIO and found my new role within ING. My world of disability inclusion really opened when I visited my first M-Enabling Conference in Washington. The possibilities I had been reading about became reality, meeting other accessibility leads in global businesses. It was also the moment to realize we’ve got a long road ahead. Because the European market differs quite hugely from the US market when we talk about accessibility and disability inclusion. Ever since, I’ve been working on the masterplan to roll out one global accessibility strategy for ING customer and employees. Making sure we include the disability community in our business and employment, both from a market perspective as well as hiring the best avaible talents.

Key advice: Just start with projects as you go, as we did with the accessible card in 2017. After a small test with ING customers we got advice improving our card, and this led ING Netherlands to launch the first accessible ING debit Card in April 2020.

Key lesson: accessibility is not just HR; accessibility belongs all over the place!

My biggest question: the effect Corona brings to accelerate accessibility and disability inclusion, and risks when business do not include disability inclusion?"

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