A cosy living room with atmospheric lighting. Two students are sitting in a corner chatting. They notice the reporter immediately. One of them gets up: “Would you, maybe, like some coffee or tea? And where would you like to sit?” She points to a table or the comfortable-looking sofa. Let’s use the table, where another student is sitting with her laptop. It is Maud Langen, second-year student of Arts and Social Sciences at FASoS. She had enough energy to come by today. Langen has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), a hereditary connective tissue disorder which means she suffers from pain and fatigue on a daily basis. “Everything in your body is linked with connective tissue. In my case, this did not develop properly, as a result of which it takes more energy ‘to hold everything together,” Langen explains. She takes painkillers every day and she has a wheelchair for longer distances. The silver rings around each of her fingers are not for show, but provide support for the finer motor skills such as writing. “The fact that they don’t look typically 'medical', is a nice bonus.” She was diagnosed when she was fourteen, together with her mother. “We were watching a documentary about someone suffering from EDS and recognised the symptoms. Then we went to our GP, who referred us to a specialist.” Being diagnosed so late? How can that be if it’s hereditary? “At the time, very little was known about it. My younger brother has now also been diagnosed with the same. My older sister doesn’t have it. It is a 50% chance.”
Langen is glad that there is an organisation such as UnliMited. She saw the announcement for an event and decided to attend. “When I have the time and energy, I join in. I have had to explain myself my whole life, explain why I can’t do things, for example. That is exhausting. I don’t need to do that here.”
Ambassadors
The living room is situated at the Tapijn barracks, in the current accommodation of international student organisation Kaleido, which is also open to other associations for rehearsals or meetings. Students and PhD candidates are welcome every Wednesday afternoon, to meet in the so-called Cosy Corner of UnliMited-Students, which was founded in 2021. This is the student branch of a wider UM network for people who have a visible or invisible functional disability, or suffer from chronic illness or neurodivergence. The latter one is an umbrella term for everything that deviates neurologically in the brain from what is typical: it includes ADHD, dyslexia, but also depression. So, also something temporary. “Everyone is welcome,” says Sophia Yazdani Biuki, third-year student of Global Studies (FASoS). She is one of the employees of UnliMited-Students who – together with fellow members – support and actively help out with events as ambassadors and organisers. “We do not require an official diagnosis from our members. Everyone can register. You don’t necessarily have to have a disorder either,” she smiles. “If you feel involved, for example, because your partner has a disability, that is fine too.”
Accessibility
Just like the employees branch, the student variant works together with Disability Support and the Disability & Inclusivity (D&I) Office. Yazdani Biuki: “We have no direct influence on policies, but there are meetings in which we can have a say.” They are hoping to improve the accessibility of UM buildings (there is an overview on the UM website), at least, as far as that is possible. In the city centre, with all its historic buildings and streets that are paved with cobblestones, it is difficult.
Another objective is to make sure that studying and taking exams are as easy as possible, for example, by allowing more time and smaller spaces (fewer people, so less stimuli) and all kinds of other regulations. Langen makes use of them: “Due to my condition, I need to stand up and walk around every now and again, fortunately I am allowed to do that."