Last year Thijs de Lange won the AUV Alumni prize for his work on Wij Staan Op! [the only national organization run by people with disabilities]. Now a year has passed, it seemed the perfect time to catch up with the alumnus to talk about his career, passions, and living in the Netherlands as a person with a disability.

One year ago you won the AUV prize for Wij Staan Op! (WSO!). It’s nearly a year later and you’ve already left the organization. Why did you depart?
That group was founded to accomplish ratification of the VN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). As soon as this was accomplished, Wij Staan Op! lost its functionality. When I left they were still very much searching for their role in society. I couldn’t wait for that, I need to be active, so I left. Luckily the Alumni prize is two-sided. I also won it because of my personal talent and the enthusiasm I’ve shown in my fight for the rights of persons with disabilities.

Since you’ve now left WSO!, is there a way you’re still using that enthusiasm for a social cause?
Right now I’m working part-time for Het Nationale Theater. I’m also part of several sounding boards and I’m busy with regional politics. My goal for next year is to become part of the Zaanstad municipal council.

 So, you’re still continuing your fight for the disabled but in a different way?
Now I do have the urge to correct you and say ‘persons with disabilities’. We are more than our shortcomings.

Does it bother you when people use the wrong terms?
Well, my mother once addressed it and now I tend to agree with using this term. However, I’m not immediately offended if someone uses the wrong terms. The urge exists to immediately victimize yourself, and take it way too seriously. If you want to achieve change, you have to remain on speaking terms.

The community of people with disabilities doesn’t seem that represented in social debates. Do you have the feeling people with disabilities are overlooked by society?
I’m of course far from being objective, but when I read the municipal budget, I’m often shocked how little money is being reserved for improving the lives of persons with disabilities. It of course takes another way of thinking, so I get that people without a disability are not aware of the urgency of the situation. We, the people with disabilities, should take more responsibility in pointing the urgency out to others. From their side, it’s often just naivety, and that’s the reason I don’t want to promptly victimize myself.

Could one person with a disability speak for the whole community?
It’s very complicated. My light form of cerebral palsy makes my speech a bit slower (i.a.), but I don’t sit in a wheelchair. Nevertheless, I still want to represent the people that do. I get around because of my intellect. With a social disability that wouldn’t be possible. So people with these kinds of disabilities are my blind spot. However, every single day I do experience that society isn’t equipped for the disabled, or at least not to its full potential. You should understand that feeling if you want to fulfill such a position because otherwise, you’ll create a policy that goes nowhere. It’s like when a white man wants to represent people of color. That is also wrong.

 If you want to achieve change, you have to remain on speaking terms

 Did things change for people with disabilities during the pandemic?
I have the feeling that because of the pandemic, more tv shows are using sign interpreters. The way many of us now connect via Zoom and other digital sources makes it also possible for everyone to join in. That wasn’t the case before the crisis. It would be bad if we would fall back into the way things were before the pandemic. I want more flexibility. But I don’t have high hopes for universities, because they are being run in a very traditional way. It all goes too slowly! It’s that conventional thinking of ‘this is the way things go, and that won’t change’ that keeps universities from being optimal for persons with disabilities.

You are also an aspiring TV host. How would you like to achieve this goal in the near future?
I would like to develop my presentation skills through my work as a chairman for a day. So, hopefully, in the future, I will get recognized by a tv station and I get the opportunity to produce and host TV shows. With this job, I can put my theatrical, journalistic, and societal personality aspects to good use.

Do you think the world of showbiz is inclusive enough? In other words: are they ready for Thijs de Lange?
Some of my friends told me that even the TV world isn’t inclusive. That is a shame because I do believe I have it in me to do become a TV host. I hear from people that my different way of speaking, immediately makes them listen to me more carefully. So I’m convinced my future does lay in the world of showbiz. Speaking as fast as Matthijs van Nieuwkerk however is out of the question!