{"id":166702,"date":"2024-04-18T13:50:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T11:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=166702"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:18","slug":"from-special-education-to-university-a-rare-journey-but-ivar-made-it-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/04\/18\/from-special-education-to-university-a-rare-journey-but-ivar-made-it-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"From special education to university: a rare journey, but Ivar made it happen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students from special education rarely find their way to university. But it is certainly not impossible \u2013 just ask Ivar Berkman (25), a Philosophy and Sociology student who defied the odds. Now, he’s eager to give guest lectures at his old high school, a mytyl school called De Brug, to show current students that it is possible. \u201cIf this helps even one other person, I’ll consider it a success!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ivar often faces misconceptions about students from special education. Are they not smart enough for university? He understands the misunderstanding: many people aren\u2019t aware that mytyl schools \u2013 special education institutions for children with various disabilities \u2013 also offer education at the senior general secondary education (HAVO) level. Yet, despite this path leading from HAVO through higher professional education (HBO) to university, few students dare to take it. \u201cIn all my years here, I\u2019ve only come across one girl from the mytyl school\u201d, shares Ivar.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018I\u2019m quite optimistic and enthusiastic, and making friends tends to come easily\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Ivar has ADHD and DCD \u2013 Developmental Coordination Disorder. \u201cIn practice, it means significant clumsiness in my fine motor skills\u201d, he explains. \u201cLearning to cycle and swim took much more effort, not to mention writing.\u201d Despite these challenges, Ivar thrived in a \u2018regular\u2019 primary school. To aid his writing, he was allowed to type on a sort of primitive computer in primary school.<\/p>\n

None of this hindered his school experience. \u201cI\u2019m quite optimistic and enthusiastic, and making friends tends to come easily\u201d, he recalls. Learning also came naturally to Ivar, and he grew into quite the bookworm. \u201cWe had a really big bookcase at school, and I think I read at least half of those books.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number<\/h2>

It wasn\u2019t until Ivar went to Calvijn, a secondary school in Barendrecht, that things went wrong. \u201cI had a guidance counsellor in the first year, but after just a month and a half, she was gone due to surgery. They didn\u2019t have a replacement for me for a long time after that. So suddenly I had to do everything on my own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ivar often felt like just a number, the school didn\u2019t understand the concept of DCD, and he also noticed that people \u2013 both inside and outside the school \u2013 sometimes treated him disparagingly. \u201cThere was a taxi driver who picked me up from school, and who would ask very slowly, \u2018how\u2026 was\u2026 your\u2026 day\u2026 today?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Without arms and legs<\/h2>

It was decided that Ivar would be better off in special education, leading him to the mytyl school De Brug. \u201cAt first, it felt a bit strange. You get picked up by this little bus \u2013 very weird. And then, on your first day, you are confronted with students in wheelchairs, as well as others who faced even greater challenges. There was a boy without arms and legs, and another with a perpetually flushed face due to breathing difficulties. Others had severe autism, it really ran the gamut.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the mytyl school, everyone was different, yet that made everyone the same. \u201cWithin the school, you quickly realise that you belong to a marginalised group. I don\u2019t see it as negative, but it\u2019s a whole different world.\u201d In fact, he has many fond memories of his school. \u201cThe teachers were all very kind and knew everyone\u2019s name. It was like you were immediately part of a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Team Handy<\/h2>

Because of this, bullying occurred much less frequently than in the outside world, Ivar observed. \u201cIt still happened occasionally; they were still kids, after all. But many students tried to derive strength from their disability. I remember there was a sports team called \u2018Team Handy\u2019. Handy for handicap, but also from handy. You try to make something fun out of your childhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

His time at the school has permanently changed Ivar. \u201cIt made me become much more understanding of other people.\u201d In his final year, Ivar had various ambitions. \u201cI wanted to understand how people work, how I can help people.\u201d While he wanted to go to a college of applied sciences for a degree in Psychology, he noticed that the school mainly prepared them for a future in assisted living. \u201cAnd that is very important for many students. Let\u2019s be realistic; the chance of them going to university is much smaller.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only one to attend university<\/h2>
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Ivar wanted more and pursued higher education, enrolling in the Sociology programme at Erasmus University after obtaining his propaedeutic diploma. He was the only one from his graduating class (about ten HAVO students) who took this step. And it is going very well, indeed. While COVID caused some delays, and he encountered a problem during one examination where he had<\/em> to write, he is currently almost done with his Bachelor\u2019s programmes in Sociology and Philosophy \u2013 he just needs to finish his theses. Naturally, perhaps, one of those theses is about the obstacles children from special education face on their way to higher education.<\/p>\n

To demonstrate that it is possible, he plans to return to his old high school. He\u2019ll do this in June, alongside teacher Katharina Bauer from the Erasmus School of Philosophy. \u201cWe\u2019ll be teaching philosophy for two afternoons to all groups, from the pre-vocational level to HAVO level. Because philosophy is for everyone.\u201d He is under no illusion that mytyl school students will apply to university in great numbers afterwards, however. \u201cBut it would be nice to call attention to the possibility. And if this helps even one other person, I\u2019ll consider it a success!\u201d<\/p>\n

In the future, he hopes to expand the guest lectures at the mytyl school from the university to other fields. \u201cPerhaps Law or Economics, for example. Because why couldn\u2019t you become an accountant if you\u2019re in a wheelchair?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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