Student experience | Barend on studying with a visual and hearing impairment
“It would have been nice to have the oral explanation in writing as well.”
Barend Elias (22) would have ended his dance studies at the ROC van Amsterdam prematurely. As a student with a visual and hearing impairment, he studied to become a dancer and choreographer from 2020 to 2023. We spoke with him about his experiences and do’s and don’ts when supervising with students with support needs.
Because of his physical limitations, Barend experienced a lack of communication during his training. He was also often not picked for projects. “The class was divided by drawing lots into A and B groups. Then we were allowed to choose fellow students for our own project. Each time I was not chosen and you were not allowed to participate in your own piece either.” In sackcloth and ashes, Barend reported to his mother, who requested a conversation with his mentor. “In that conversation, I was able to express my thoughts and feelings. I received compliments from my mentor and tips on how to do things differently.” As a result, he discovered that he does better when he communicates clearly himself about what he needs. That insight helped him in his professional practice. It also helped the training program understand why Barend was lagging behind. It is one of the lessons he learned from his studies: good communication pays off.
Too general information
Barend himself needs clear communication. Due to a metabolic disease, he is visually and hearing impaired. When Barend first received information from his school about doing an internship, it was lacking.
“I didn’t really understand what was expected of me.”
“It was also only shared verbally.” Barend did receive written information, but that offered no comfort. “That information was too general, it applied to all internships during the study. As a result, I had to look for the information I needed at that moment myself. As a result, I was afraid that I would actually skip important information.” Barend would have liked the oral information to be written out as well.
Working on your own technique
In total, Barend attended 10 projects, four of which were inside school and six outside school. Of the six internships outside school, Barend has lent himself mostly as a performing dancer. “I prefer to be on stage by myself. I could dance before I could walk, my mother sometimes jokingly told me.” In addition, he was eager to work on his own technique. “Because I am hearing impaired, I have a little less balance than other dancers. I noticed that with some exercises I couldn’t even keep basic balance. I got more and more tense as a result. It got better when I paid attention to my breathing and relaxed my body. I learned through this that we humans cannot be one hundred percent perfect.”
Sharing need
Although he thinks he was rejected at auditions on occasion because of his disability, the internships outside of school went fine.
“I was included as a full member of the company.”
“Because of my disability, I’m used to trying 1.5 times as hard. They saw that they didn’t have to motivate me.” Barend was also given space to share his own needs. “In some productions I got a look behind the scenes by explaining exactly how they worked. That was nice for me because it allowed me to explain how I could work best in that system.” It made Barend feel that he was no different from the other production employees.
Not enough internship hours
Because Barend was not chosen for projects within school, he finished his penultimate year with too few internship hours. The conversation with the mentor motivated him to continue studying just as much. The final year was one of hard work. “In addition to a full-time class schedule, I had to make up 600 hours of internship in that year. Fortunately, there were many audition opportunities, so I was accepted at one. I made up the rest of the hours by creating my own half-hour performance. It was tough, but I managed.” Barend has since worked as a dancer and choreographer. At first he was employed by a Belgian company, but that didn’t give him the challenge he needed. “Through the lesson on communicating clearly from my studies, I knew how to express this. This put me in contact with another company. Here I was able to express exactly what I needed.” Meanwhile, Barend is enjoying himself very much, although, “With my side job in the hospitality industry added to that, it is quite busy.”
