Universiteit Leiden

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D&I Event

Belonging first: in conversation about an accessible university

Date
Tuesday 21 January 2025
Time
Address
ECC
Haagse Schouwweg 10
Leiden

The language of the symposium will be Dutch and English. Subtitles will appear on a large screen during the plenary session, and the live stream for online participants will also be subtitled in English.

Accessible to all

At Leiden University, we aim to create an inclusive and engaged learning and working environment and prepare students to tackle societal challenges when entering diverse workspaces. But are we open and accessible enough? Can persons with a disability fully participate? True belonging means you feel part of the community and are non-negotiable just as you are. How do we handle the discomfort that this will no doubt cause within the community?

Live stream

 

Meeting and sharing knowledge

This edition of the annual D&I Event offers an interactive and plenary programme. Our aim is to create an open space where students, staff and alumni can share their experiences, research and work on inclusion and diversity, especially for people with disabilities. You are invited to join us. Together, we will take the next steps towards a more inclusive university community.

Registration

There are no seats left in the venue, but you can still follow the event online via a live stream.

Register for online attendance

Programme

14:00

Doors open

14:30

Interactive opening
 

Thijs de Lange, chirman of the day
 

Thijs de Lange combines his years of stage experience as a comedian, poet and presenter with his own lived experience. At the University of Amsterdam, he was a member of the Student Disability Platform (now called ‘UvA IDEAs’). Here he recognized the value of his life with a mild form of Cerebral Palsy to make the university more accessible. With him as moderator, we are not only assured of an atmospheric afternoon, but also of an afternoon where the right questions are being asked.

14:35

Discussion: Belonging from a disability, neurodiversity and diversity perspective at Leiden University
 

Carina Minnee, student volunteer Access & Support Platform (ASP)
Stefan de Jong, chair of the staff Neurodiversity Platform (NdP)

14:45

Welcome
 

Annetje Ottow, President of Leiden University’s Executive Board
 

How can we create an inclusive and engaged learning and working environment and prepare students to tackle societal challenges?

15:05

Talk: The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with a disability: how to implement?
 

Jiska Ogier, alumnus Leiden University Law School and expert by experience
 

A brief look back on the past 8 years in which the convention began to have a place in Dutch society. Jiska Ogier discusses the recent concluding observations of the UN committee that supervises the implementation of the convention. Education was given high priority in this report, but what does that mean for institutions like Leiden University?
 

Leiden University is Jiska’s alma mater: she graduated from Leiden Law School and connects her knowledge of laws and regulations with her experience with having a physical disability.

15:10

Interactive discussion: Becoming an accessible university to all students
 

Nour al Kuhaili, master’s student in medicine at the LUMC and Mr. K.J. Cath Prize laureate
Romke Biagioni (Fenestra)
Jiska Ogier (alumnus Leiden University Law School)

 
Everyone is invited to share knowledge, ideas and experiences, tips and tricks.

15:30

Live music
 

Mai
 

Mai is a singer-songwriter who hopes that listeners recognise a piece of themselves in her music, as the human experience is unique yet universal. Her sound is influenced by pop, soul and jazz. At the D&I event her piano will accompany her, as it has for many years. Mai is also an alumnus of Leiden University. 

15:35

Short break

15:50

Restart and refresher


Thijs de Lange

15:55

Lecture: Disability: a useful category of analysis?

 
Paul van Trigt, Assistant Professor of Social History (Fauclty of Humanities)

 
Diversity and disability are often seen as policy issues, avoided by some, embraced by others. This lecture will make the argument that disability within the university has in the first place to be considered as an exciting category of analysis, that opens new perspectives in research. Working with this category will, however, not remain without consequences and has the potential to change the university in more ways than one.

16:15

Interactive discussion: Creating an inclusive and engaging learning and working environment on a daily basis

 
Judith Jansen, senior policy advisor D&I
Marjolijn Clarenbach Rispens, policy advisor Healthy University HRM
Paul van Trigt, University lecturer social history
 

Everyone is invited to share knowledge, ideas and experiences, tips and tricks.

16:40

Drinks

Registration

There are no seats left in the venue, but you can still follow the event online via a live stream.

Register for online attendance

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