{"id":146670,"date":"2022-11-17T14:38:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T13:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=146670"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:30","slug":"criticism-of-the-lack-of-accessibility-to-the-langeveld-building-for-people-with-functional-impairments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/11\/17\/criticism-of-the-lack-of-accessibility-to-the-langeveld-building-for-people-with-functional-impairments\/","title":{"rendered":"Criticism of the (lack of) accessibility to the Langeveld building for people with functional impairments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long before the Langeveld building was completed, Erasmus <\/span>University had been warned that the building would not be <\/span>accessible enough for people with functional impairments. Philosophy student <\/span>Kyra Mulders is one of those who sees a great deal of problems with <\/span>the building, which had its official opening last week, such as the <\/span>doors to the wheelchair-inaccessible lavatories being too heavy.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kyra cannot call the building 'Accessible'. Doors are too heavy, tables small, the sound is not good everywhere, and the spaces she sees are mainly 'grey and drab'.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShrey Khurana<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cWhat do you notice looking around?\u201d, Kyra asks in the hallway of the <\/span>Langeveld building. She answers the question herself: \u201cIt\u2019s grey on grey on <\/span>grey: grey floors, grey walls, grey stairs. Well, if you\u2019re visually impaired, <\/span>you\u2019re almost certainly going to take a fall \u2013 mark my words. There is not <\/span>enough contrast.\u201d Shortly after the official opening of the building, a number <\/span>of students and an employee with a functional impairment toured the building on the <\/span>invitation of the Real estate & facilities department, which, in Kyra\u2019s opinion, <\/span>resulted in a long list of \u2018areas of improvement\u2019. \u201cOur visually impaired <\/span>student ran into tremendous difficulties. For example, in the lecture halls, he <\/span>kept running into raised grey steps.\u201d According to a spokesperson for the <\/span>university, the group will reconvene in \u2018four to six weeks\u2019 to find out which <\/span>adjustments will be made and which will not.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t

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