{"id":141355,"date":"2022-06-09T16:40:19","date_gmt":"2022-06-09T14:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=141355"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:19","slug":"letthe-i-dont-understand-why-people-with-a-functional-impairment-have-to-work-so-much-harder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/06\/09\/letthe-i-dont-understand-why-people-with-a-functional-impairment-have-to-work-so-much-harder\/","title":{"rendered":"Letthe: ‘I don’t understand why people with a functional impairment have to work so much harder’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Why do I have to constantly chase after ‘solutions’ for my hearing impairment right throughout my studies?” For six years, Letthe has had to arrange everything herself to be able to follow her education at Erasmus University ‘like any other student’. She already has a solution at the ready.<\/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\tRonald van den Heerik<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Letthe Riemen (26) does not need to think twice. How can the university become a better place for students with a functional impairment? \u201cStudent advisors should be given a greater say and should become more assertive\u201d, she says without any hesitation. \u201cThey should be your lobbyist. They should be advocating for your rights. Right now, they\u2018re just channels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Self<\/h2>

\u201cWhy do I have to constantly chase after \u2018solutions\u2019 for my hearing impairment right throughout my studies?\u201d the Master\u2019s student in Economics wonders. This concerns the provision of facilities which she, as a hearing-impaired student, needs. A lecture hall with good acoustics, subtitled videos, that students do not talk at the same time during lectures and so on. \u201cA student advisor could send an email to lecturers: a student with a disability will be attending your lectures this coming term. Bear these points in mind: wear your microphone in lectures, provide subtitles to your videos and avoid assignments in groups where people talk at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

If student advisors have a good overview of the issues, students are then freed from having to arrange things just because they are hard of hearing, have autism or use a wheelchair. Letthe sees it as the solution to some of the extra stress that students with disabilities experience. \u201cPerceptions have to change. Now it\u2019s a case of: \u2018That student wants this.\u2019 But it should be: \u2018We, as a university, want to see these kinds of adaptations in place for our student.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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