Arianna Colonello is the first international Master’s student with a visual impairment at the Faculty of Law. The 35-year-old Italian student has a mission: to promote the international mobility of students with a handicap.

Arianna Colonello is the first Master’s student with a visual impairment at the Faculty of Law. The 35-year-old Italian student has a mission: to promote the international mobility of students with a handicap.

Holding her cane, Arianna Colonello is waiting at the entrance to the Grotius Building. The barista at the coffee corner knows her and puts a sugar cube into her cappuccino.

Colonello comes from Udine, an hour and a half’s drive from Venice. She has 10 percent vision in her right eye and none in her left. ‘A handicap isn’t a punishment from God, but something that you have to accept,’ she says. ‘It’s a feature, just like the colour of your eyes.’

Diploma on the wall

Colonello received her Bachelor’s (2005) and her Master’s (2009) at the University of Brescia near Milan. In Brescia she was briefly active in city politics. At her urging, a lift was added to the station and the new metro was tested for accessibility.

As an intern at the European Parliament in Brussels, she researched the protection of the rights of people with an impairment. She organised a colloquium on that subject together with a member of the European Parliament.

At Radboud University, Colonello is now enrolled in the Master’s programme in European law, with a specialisation in human rights and migration. Her choice of the Netherlands and Radboud University was a well-considered one. ‘In Italy someone with an impairment is someone who can’t do anything and who needs help. Once they’ve finished studying, Italians with a handicap hang their diploma on the wall because they can’t find work.’

‘People with a handicap have no future in Italy’

It’s different in the Netherlands, according to Colonello. ‘When the bus came to my bus stop recently, the driver helped me to get out. Nothing like that every happened to me in Italy.’

Doctorate or NGO

Colonello has a mission: she wants to encourage the international mobility of students with a handicap. ‘Only one percent of Erasmus students has an impairment. That’s much too low. We have to remove the obstacles that make it difficult for students with a handicap to study abroad.’

One way that Colonello is working on this is as the coordinator of the ExchangeAbility Project of the Erasmus Students Network and as a member of the Brussels ENIL network that wants to integrate people with a handicap into society. In addition, Colonello is interviewed five times a month on Italian radio about such subjects as education, the job market, family, society and mobility, each time with a link to people with an impairment.

Her visual impairment doesn’t prevent Colonello from dreaming. ‘After my Master’s I’d like to write a PhD thesis about the rights of people with a handicap or work for an NGO that has this topic high on their agenda.’

But Colonello first wants to get her second Master’s degree. ‘Unfortunately, that didn’t work last year. I have to succeed this year because my parents can’t afford an extra year of studying.’ Before she graduates, Colonello has some recommendations for Radboud University and for the Dutch government that could make life more attractive for international students with a handicap.

[kader-xl]Organise an introduction day
International students with a functional impairment who come to Nijmegen need an introduction day more than the average student does. This doesn’t exist. And the buddy system could make the introduction easier, Colonello thinks.
‘Buddies could explain to us how the Dutch educational system works, how public transport is organised and where the supermarkets are.’

Help with small problems
Students with a handicap are confronted by small problems more often than the average student is. Two examples:
If Colonello wants to read a book, she has to scan the text page by page. The photocopying machine works with a touchscreen without braille. And even when the text has been scanned, the computer still makes mistakes. This is why Colonello needs extra studying time.
Last year Arianna’s computer broke, just two weeks before the exam. Without a computer she can’t read a text. Nevertheless, her request to move the date of her exam was refused.
‘We should find a system in which the university helps us with this sort of problem,’ says Colonello.

Teach personnel how to interact with people with a handicap
This point is closely related to the previous one. International students have contact with the international office of the law faculty. ‘The people there are very friendly and want to help me,’ Colonello says. ‘But unfortunately, they aren’t trained to help students with an impairment.’
If Colonello has problems with her computer software or if she can’t read an e-book, there’s no one at ICT services who can help her.

Provide more financial resources
The books that Colonello has to read for her thesis are not available digitally. A good programme to scan and convert the texts costs at least 200 euros.
Students with a functional impairment are often confronted with such unexpected costs. They can submit a request to the university for a fund for special circumstances. This entitles them to 134 euros a month for 4 months. A student advisor helps them with the request. ‘Unfortunately, you’re not sure of getting the aid,’ says Colonello. ‘Moreover, it doesn’t cover all of the unexpected costs.’
According to Colonello the problem lies primarily with the Dutch government. ‘They should provide a bigger budget to make Radboud University more accessible. There should be an office to offer support to students with a handicap, with staff trained to help them.’
Colonello also says that money should be invested in e-books and in making buildings accessible. The revolving doors of the Grotius Building, for example, are ‘a disaster’ in her opinion.

Comply with the UN treaties
Colonello recently had to read five books for her thesis. She herself contacted the publishers and requested that the books be sent in a readable format. Only one publisher agreed to her request; the others said that they have a license agreement only with institutions and not with individual citizens. ‘It’s a vicious circle,’ explains Colonello. ‘Only the university can help me.’
The Master’s student referred to the UN treaty on the rights of people with a handicap, which states, among other things, that books and other reading material must be accessible to everyone. ‘The Netherlands also ratified that treaty. So why can’t I get those books sent to me?’ Perhaps a friend of Arianna’s, a computer specialist, can help her read the books. ‘But the feeling remains that I’m a victim of discrimination.’
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Radboud University presently does not wish to respond to Colonello’s recommendations.