Media laden…
Hello everyone,
Here’s my next post, i hope you enjoy!
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The 26th of June went a bit chaotic for me. I was still dealing with the eye infection I got on the 22nd, so my focus was shit and my brain all over the place.
I just went to uni to get some things done, thinking I had nothing important going on.
However, I ended up forgetting two things I had also scheduled at the same time. Yes, I know — amazing planning on my part. My administration is always immaculately on point. Just ask my study advisor, she would totally agree. 😊
I’d been sitting at uni for a few hours when I got a message from a colleague at JongPIT. She said she couldn’t make it to the conference that day because she wasn’t feeling well. That’s when I realized… I had signed up for it too.
The NCDR (National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism) was organizing a conference about fighting for a society where everyone is treated equitably. It ran from 09:15 to 16:30, and by then I had already missed a big chunk of it.
Thankfully, I know a few people working at NCDR, so I quickly asked if I could still join later — no problem. I asked both them and my colleague for the location, but didn’t wait for a reply. For some reason, I thought it was in The Hague, so I took the metro to Zuid.
Turns out, it was near Utrecht — in Nieuwegein. Thankfully, I was still at Amsterdam Zuid when I got the message, so I just hopped on a train to Utrecht instead of heading to The Hague.
While on the train, around 13:50, I got a message from a friend: “Is it okay if we meet around 15:30 for our walk?”
That’s when I remembered I had also planned a little catch-up walk with someone I hadn’t spoken to in a while.
I quickly called her from the train to apologize and ask for a rain check. Thankfully she was very chill about it — but I still felt really bad.
The conference was actually really nice. The speakers were great, and the people attending were too. I wish I could give you a detailed breakdown of what everyone said, but it’s been too long and I wouldn’t do them justice. Plus, my focus was still a mess because of that eye infection and the overall chaos of the day.
Here’s the link to the official recap from the NCDR:
On Friday, I had brunch with my family in Amersfoort. The food was great, and honestly, there’s nothing like spending time with people who really know you — the ones you grew up with.
When I got back, I spontaneously decided to go to a party in Groningen.
I’m a member of AEGEE, a student association with branches across the Netherlands. AEGEE-Groningen was organizing a party where all members nationwide were invited — so I decided to go.
I first went home to Amsterdam for dinner, then took the 20:08 train to Groningen.
On the way, I had some interesting conversations.
First, I chatted with a woman traveling to Almere — mostly about politics.
Between Almere and Lelystad, I spoke with a guy who had gone to a silent disco in Amsterdam, organized through Meetup. Unfortunately, he ended up being the only one who showed up — something clearly went wrong there.
Between Lelystad and Groningen, I had no one sitting next to me, so I just chilled.
During the last half hour of the ride, I asked around if anyone was getting off at Groningen. I found someone right away — she happened to be taking the same bus as me. She was an international student from Italy, studying in Groningen.
We exchanged Instagrams, and now I have another new friend in Groningen 😊
She didn’t get off at my stop, but helped me to the door before she continued. I was about to ask someone else for help finding the final location (it was about an 8-minute walk from the bus stop) when I ran into someone from AEGEE-Amsterdam who was also going to the party — made life easier.
The party was fun.
I met a lot of new people and caught up with others I hadn’t spoken to in a while.
The location was called De Gouden Fust, and the music was great.
Around 1 AM, we all went to another club called Sunny Beach.
Unfortunately, the Sunny Beach ended up having very little sunlight for me. Instead, it had way too many dark clouds, I was almost refused entry because of my disability.
There was a line we had to get through. When I was at the front of it and about to get in, the bouncer barred me and the people helping me entry. He first asked if I was with them and if they were completely sober. They were for the most part, but not completely. He first asked them if they would take care of me, and when they said they would, he still refused us entry. He said he was responsible for me and the safety at that location, and couldn’t guarantee it for me.
We argued for a bit, but he was very stubborn. After a bit, I asked him if he was certain he wanted to go down this path. I first asked his name. after that, I told him that it is his decision to grant or refuse me entry, but that I would have to make an official complaint against both him and the sunny beach.
This is basically discriminating against me because of my disability, I told him. I am perfectly able to take care of myself, I don’t need the people next to me to keep an eye on me, let alone him to take responsibility for me. I am very capable of doing that for myself, thank you very much.
That’s when he started backtracking.
“Of course it isn’t because of your disability,” he told me. “We also refuse people that are too drunk entry.”
That’s not even close to being the same. I hadn’t drunk a single drop of alcohol, I don’t drink. And being almost blind isn’t even close to the same as being too drunk. I am a lot more capable of taking care of myself than someone that is about to drink themselves unconscious.
He went on to draw a very interesting scenario. “Just imagine if a fire breaks out,” he said. “You wouldn’t be able to see where the entrance is to get out. You would be trampled by the people trying to leave.”
He conveniently forgot I had a big group with me. Besides, I did know where the entrance is, the layout wasn’t a maze. I could have also asked someone or followed the people leaving, even if I was on my own. At the very least, I would be a lot more capable of thinking and acting rationally than probably half of the drunk people there.
As for people trampling me to get out, I told him I would swing my white cane around, and we would see who was trampling who.
He laughed at that. After that, he said he would allow me entry, but only if I stayed to the side, where it wasn’t crowded. I didn’t feel like arguing further, so I just went in.
I didn’t let it ruin my evening, but it is very exhausting to deal with. I go out quite often on my own, in different cities. I just go to a random club / bar, and chat to the people there and get to know them. I take the night train on a regular basis.
I went to celebrate Carnaval in Den Bosch during the last Friday, there were about 100,000 people in the city. I also walked for about 20 km through Amsterdam during Kingsday, basically visiting the entire city. On both those occasions, the streets sometimes became so busy that I and the people with me just got completely stuck in the crowds. We weren’t able to move at all, you were literally stuck to the people behind and in front of you, there was no space in between. You just had to move slowly and move with the currents until the crowd thinned out a bit.
I also went skydiving, jumping out of an airplane at 13,000 feet.
I am not scared of your random ass club somewhere in the middle of Groningen.
I don’t know why, but people sometimes think their little hole in the wall is the scariest place on earth. This is the place that is impossible for me to navigate. They can’t imagine what it would be like to live without sight and how I would navigate it, and they also don’t want too much hassle while they are working. So they just project their lack of imagination onto me.
It is exhausting. The consequence of this kind of behaviour is that you can’t go out on your own unless you’re able to defend yourself and not take any shit from anyone. You have to often tell people working at such places you’re fine and don’t need their help, even if you might actually need it. Because if you don’t, they will simply exclude you and refuse you entry. Just asking if you need any help and how they can best accommodate you is often beyond what they think of.
This can make for a very toxic and socially unsafe environment.
Thankfully I have also had places where they do give you a safe feeling, but more often than not it is either you’re completely fine on your own, or you get out. Of course, it’s never that blatantly stated, just implied.
Anyway, I stayed there for about an hour more. Thankfully it was nice, and I met some more nice people. I had a place to sleep in Groningen, so at around 03:00 AM I decided to go there. I could crash on someone’s couch so that was nice. Before going home, I decided to eat an eierbal, a snack from Groningen.
I slept relatively well. I woke up around 09:30 AM, and took the train back at 10:49. I got back to Amsterdam at 12:52.
I had planned another busy day, but that wasn’t going to happen. I had two birthdays and a festival. One starting at 14:00, another one at 16:00 and I had festival tickets in Tilburg. When you plan things this badly, it often doesn’t work out. And so it didn’t. The first birthday ended up being moved to 16:00, which means I had to decide which one to go to. I was also really tired for some reason. I can’t imagine why, it’s not like I did anything already that weekend…
Anyway, the end result is that I just picked the birthday that took place close to my home, and didn’t go to the festival. The other birthday was on the other side of the city, so my energy level made that a bit difficult. The birthday I ended up going to was very nice. Around 10 to 20 people, just chilling, talking, and getting to know new people.
I stayed there until around 23:00, and then went home. I decided to spontaneously grab a cup of tea at a café 5 min walk from my home, and I met my neighbours there. Not next door, but living in the same street. They were grabbing some drinks and were planning to go out after. I just joined their table for a bit. They are nice people. One was from Groningen, the other from Tilburg, and they somehow ended up together in Amsterdam. It’s cool to see how people meet each other sometimes, even if they are from completely different areas.
On Sunday, I had my nephew’s wedding.
It was lovely, though my social battery was running low. Still, spending time with family is always worth it.
I left relatively early — around 23:30 — since I had a morning meeting the next day.
and that was the weekend from the 26nd until the 29nd, I hope you enjoy the read. I have around 3 weekends more to write about.
This weekend is the first in ages I didn’t do anything, I did plan a few things but I cought a cold on Friday.
I think it was for the best, and a signal that I need to take things a bit easier than I have been doing haha.
Yours,
ihab
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