{"id":137635,"date":"2022-03-14T15:45:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T14:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=137635"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:11","slug":"students-with-disabilities-do-not-wish-to-return-to-inaccessible-old-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/03\/14\/students-with-disabilities-do-not-wish-to-return-to-inaccessible-old-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Students with functional impairment do not wish to return to inaccessible \u2018old normal\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are going to have to do better after the coronavirus pandemic than just return to the \u2018old normal\u2019. According to the Ieder(in) interest group, it is imperative that the higher education sector become more accessible to students with functional impairment.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMigle Alonderyte<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

During the pandemic, the higher education sector managed to make a very quick switch to online teaching. Suddenly the courses were a lot more accessible to students with functional impairment. \u201cThat says a lot about the accessibility of the education system before the pandemic, so that\u2019s not what we should aim to return to\u201d, says Lydia Vlagsma of Ieder(in), the umbrella organisation promoting the interests of people with disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\t

Enough energy left<\/h2>

Claire van den Helder, who studies cultural anthropology at Leiden University, found studying a lot easier during the pandemic. \u201cOnline classes were an eye opener for me. Suddenly, I was able to attend classes and have enough energy left over at the end of the day to cook dinner\u201d, she said. Van den Helder suffers from chronic fatigue. Attending lectures and seminars on campus is \u2018immensely draining\u2019 to her. Because all her classes were online during the pandemic, she was able to lie down in between seminars if needed.<\/p>\n

Van den Helder is not the only student to have had such an experience, says Vlagsma. For certain students, attending lectures became much easier during the pandemic, whereas before the pandemic they would require all sorts of complicated modifications. She says that universities and universities of applied sciences often do not understand what kinds of modifications students need.<\/p>\n

More than wheelchair-friendly lecture theatres<\/h2>

Vlagsma explains that accessible education means more than just ensuring that lecture theatres are wheelchair-friendly. \u201cFor instance, are there any rooms where students can rest or take their medication? And also, do lecturers send text documents in a format that allows for text-to-speech conversion, and do they add subtitles to their videos?\u201d Vlagsma says that these sorts of things are often lacking.<\/p>\n

The pandemic caused Ieder(in) to reflect on the nature of higher education. \u201cThe rules are kind of strict at the moment. You have to complete your degree programme at a predetermined rate and according to a predetermined structure. Which is kind of weird, because there are many examples of flexible education. Take part-time degree programmes for adults, for instance, or a language-learning app such as Duolingo\u201d, says Vlagsma.<\/p>\n

She feels the higher education sector could learn a few things from those systems. \u201cFor instance, why can\u2019t they give students a few more weeks to complete a course? Or allow some students to take a course online, while other students attend seminars in person? Having the opportunity to choose would be very valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n\t

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Online classes are not necessarily accessible to everyone, as economics and law student Letthe previously told\u00a0EM<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t

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