Media laden…
Hello everyone,
Someone sent me this item by KASSA about the lack of digital accessibility for people with a visual disability within the Dutch education system.
I will share my thoughts on this article, as well as the link to the original and an English version, below.
First of all, it is great that they made this item. Bravo to KASSA for looking into this and interviewing the people involved. They spoke with lived-experience experts, members of parliament, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and people from educational institutions.
I would highly recommend reading the article and watching the video.
Having said all of that: none of this stuff is new.
Most articles I have to read for my classes are inaccessible to some extent. The worst examples are simply scans of paper versions and completely inaccessible. In theory, you could try to OCR them, but that usually turns into a complete mess.
The less bad ones are technically readable, but have copyright marks on every single page—sometimes interrupting sentences halfway through. This makes reading them in practice a huge chore. It breaks your flow every time you turn a page, and sometimes you have to puzzle together what the sentence is supposed to be by finding the words before and after the copyright mark.
Exams are a problem as well. Sometimes they are converted in haste and contain mistakes that you have to clarify in the middle of your exam. Other times, questions that require drawing a graph are somehow left in.
Sometimes, the articles you’re supposed to have as support during your exam are just scans.
Sometimes, your exam is simply missing from the USB drive.
There was also this one time when someone in management decided that everything had to change. Up until that point, I was making my exam in a Word file and saving it on a USB drive they provided.
But suddenly, this was no longer allowed. I was supposed to take my exam on AnsDelft, like everyone else.
However, they never bothered to test the accessibility of AnsDelft before making this decision.
Long story short: I couldn’t access any of the exam documents, and they had to create a Word version on the spot. I sat there for about an hour, just waiting for my exam to be made.
Since I am basically a fossil in higher education at this point, I can say things have gotten better.
I started my journey in higher education in 2017. Back then, diversity committees weren’t even a thing. Accessibility was a concept people barely understood, let alone implemented.
At the time, I was studying Economics and Business. Quite a few of my lecturers taught in a very visual way. They would put graphs or diagrams on the big screen and point at them, saying things like “as you can see here” or “looking at this part of the graph.”
When I asked whether it was possible to get extra support for those parts of the explanation, I was told it wasn’t allowed. Apparently, that counted as tutoring. “Normal” students didn’t get it, so neither would I.
It took me three years—and going all the way to the dean—to get this issue resolved.
At the UvA, we used Blackboard instead of Canvas back then. Blackboard was so bad that you couldn’t even interact with it using a screen reader. It was a completely visual interface. I had to ask fellow students to personally send me all documents, including assignment details. I couldn’t look up a single thing myself.
Things have gotten better. But not nearly at the speed they should have, given technological advances and the funding available.
And in terms of peoples attitudes, nothing has changed.
Honestly, I could write an entire short-story collection about the absurd things I’ve experienced at the UvA related to digital accessibility.
It has always been a complete mess.
None of the challenges mentioned in this article are new, and solutions have existed for years. You can always manually make materials accessible—and with AI, that has only become easier.
Educational institutions simply don’t bother. They are lazy and don’t feel any urgency.
If you watch the video and listen to policymakers, they all say the same thing:
“Yes, we acknowledge the issues. Yes, we know about them. Educational institutions need to make their programs accessible.”
Well—if you know what the problem is, know what the solutions are, and think people need to act, then start acting.
Get off your lazy asses and do something.
Less talking. More action.
From parliament to the ministry to educational institutions: you all know what’s going on. So stop with the awkward silences. Stop nodding along and saying that “people need to do something,” as if this isn’t your responsibility.
Stop with the empty words.
Less talking. More action.
How many more articles pointing out that you’re fucking up do you need? How many more people need to drop out with a burnout before you finally take your responsibilities seriously?
In 2023, Back in my student counsil days, I remember the dean of PPLE saying that people with a disability who have trouble coming to campus don’t belong in his program.
This was said in a room full of educational directors from different faculties—including the rector, Peter-Paul himself.
Not a single one of them said anything. Not one. I was the only person who spoke up in that room.
Either they didn’t have the guts to say something, or they agreed with him. I’m not sure which is worse for people in leadership positions.
While that dean was a complete asshole for saying it out loud, it is what many of them think—even if they’ll never admit it publicly.
They think you don’t belong in higher education and see it as a waste of time to create accessible education. That’s not socially acceptable to say, so they express it indirectly—or show it through their behavior and how they treat you.
I’m done. Done with the entire system.
I don’t like negative energy, so I usually try to stay positive. The energy you put out into the world often comes back to you.
But that doesn’t mean I’m willing to swallow bullshit. The educational sector—and the government, for that matter—has proven that it cannot be trusted on this issue by consistently refusing to act.
They have committed acts, or looked away from acts, that are quite simply against the Dutch Constitution and European law.
Trust is earned, not given unconditionally.
Which means: if you want people to believe in you again, you need to start acting.
I will only take action seriously. If you claim you’re finally going to do something about accessibility, prove it.
Not with more talk, but with action.
You don’t need to print more meaningless statements about how seriously you take accessibility while doing nothing in the meantime. It’s a waste of everyone’s time—including the poor people who have to write that bullshit down knowing full well it means nothing.
Stop pretending. Nobody believes it. Nobody takes it seriously.
If you truly believe in accessibility, start acting. Prove your commitment by actually fixing the problem.
It’s not that I want to be sceptical or pessimistic about trusting people’s words—but you haven’t given me a choice.
That’s all I have to say on this topic.
This is the English translation of the article. If your dutch, read the original version. The link is at the beginning of this text.
English version:
Students with visual impairments in higher education are still excluded on a daily basis due to inaccessible digital learning materials. The problem has been known for years, is technically solvable, and is laid down in international treaties, yet structural legislation and enforcement remain absent. As a result, accessibility too often depends on the goodwill of individual lecturers or institutions.
Research by the Oogvereniging (2024) shows that 63 percent of students with a visual impairment have experienced inaccessible digital learning environments during their studies. This leads to study delays, additional stress, and in some cases even dropout.
Digital learning environments
Commonly used systems in higher education are often technically inaccessible or insufficiently accessible. Buttons are not labelled, menus are illogical, and screen readers fail. Study materials also present obstacles. Examples include PDFs without a text layer, PowerPoint presentations that are only shown during class, exams that require extensive arrangements and are not shared in advance. In addition, images, graphs, and tables often lack descriptions. Students are repeatedly required to prove what accommodations they need.
More groups experience digital barriers
The problem does not only affect blind and partially sighted students. Students who struggle with sensory processing, concentration, or motor tasks also encounter the same digital barriers.
International agreements, but few obligations
In 2016, the Netherlands ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which obliges equal access to education and digital information. In practice, this convention has hardly been translated into concrete, enforceable rules for higher education. Since 28 June 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) has been in force, requiring digital products and services to be accessible. However, in the Netherlands, education and healthcare fall outside the scope of this law.
Member of Parliament Don Ceder (Christian Union) submitted a motion in November 2024 to extend the European Accessibility Act to education and healthcare. His criticism is that the Netherlands relies too heavily on self-regulation, leaving vulnerable students to bear the consequences.
According to Professor Eric Velleman, who conducts research on digital accessibility, it is possible. In his view, clear legislation would help achieve this.
Responses to the Kassa broadcast
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science states that it supports the importance of accessible higher education and refers to an ongoing study. The ministry also says it is still in discussions regarding Don Ceder’s motion.
Both the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences and Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) emphasize that awareness of digital accessibility is growing and that institutions are taking steps. At the same time, they acknowledge that many students remain dependent on individual accommodations and tailored solutions.
The universities of applied sciences attended by the students interviewed in the segment have also issued responses.
IederIn, the Dutch umbrella organization for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses, states that accessible education is possible and that clear legislation is needed.