Hello everyone, It has been a while, and I thought I would give you an update about life, haha. I’ve noticed that the longer I go without writing anything, the harder it is to get started again. I really hope I can finally reach my goal of writing something at least once a week, even if it is only to put my thoughts and emotions down on paper. It is a good habit to get into. Anyway, my summer has been rather slow and peaceful. I am staying in Amsterdam for the summer, so there are no huge vacation plans on my end. Though, to be honest, the weather has been so hot lately that you wouldn’t even need to go on vacation. You might as well swim in the sea here. I’ve mostly been going to festivals, spending time with friends, and hunting for a new side job. I do have some nice things lined up, though. Next week, I am going to Lowlands with Anouk from Doedonnie. We will be enjoying life and making some content, and I hope you guys will enjoy it. I have another festival in Rotterdam on the 28th of August. I got invited to help test the accessibility of the festival. And I have a half marathon lined up in London on the 6th of September, so I will be staying there from the 3rd until the 7th of September. So, all in all, more than enough to do over the coming weeks. Getting back to the last few months: while life has been good overall, there has been one big frustration hanging over everything. Unfortunately, I got refused at two places because of my disability. Again. The first time was at a swimming pool, Het Marnix. Again. I went on a Wednesday afternoon, and everything went really well. The staff were super nice. I just went for a swim and left. They even told me that I was welcome to drop by anytime and asked when I would be back. But the next day, when I went in the morning, I got the complete opposite reaction. I could swim just fine, but after I got out and was waiting for the taxi to pick me up, the manager on duty came up to me. Her first line was: “Can I come and sit next to you and talk to you for a bit?” Sounds super polite and nice, but that line spells nothing but trouble. I knew I could expect nothing good from this, but I told her, of course, that she was more than welcome to sit down. I did, however, grab my phone to film, just in case we had another discrimination case going on. And, well, she didn’t go against any of my expectations. Apparently, they have a stupid house rule saying that people with a disability who need assistance are supposed to bring their own guide or support person if they want to swim there. They don’t actually stop you from entering, but their rule apparently states that staff members aren’t allowed to help you if you come without a guide. They sent me the exact text. I’ll share their rule here: 34. Visitors who require additional assistance entering the building, changing clothes, or otherwise using the facilities must bring their own caregiver or support person. This assistance cannot be provided by an employee of Het Marnix/Stichting SpACe. They are the only pool in Amsterdam I know of with such a stupid rule. I already knew they acted like this. It isn’t the first time I’ve had trouble with them. But one of the main pools I normally go to is closed for the summer. Thankfully, there is one other pool close to my house, but they weren’t open when I wanted to go. There was another pool open, but that one was super far from my house. So I thought I would just try Het Marnix again and see if anything had changed. Unfortunately, not so much. The funny thing is that I didn’t even ask the employees for help when I was there. They helped me on their own. At first, I went downstairs with another person who was going to the pool, because the person at the front desk couldn’t help me because of that stupid house rule. While I was walking towards the pool with that person, one of the employees took over of their own accord. I basically told the manager, whatever, I would just ask other people going to the pool for help instead. She had no problem with that, just as long as I didn’t ask any actual pool employees. I told her that I hadn’t. They had simply helped me of their own accord. She said it was because they felt guilty and wanted to help, but that they weren’t really supposed to. Obviously, I think the house rule makes no sense, and I think policies like this raise serious questions about disability discrimination and equal access. They also seem very difficult to reconcile with the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, particularly the idea that people with disabilities should be able to participate in society as independently and equally as possible. Anyway, I am just so tired of people trying to make me take a guide everywhere I go. It is nice if the pool employees can help, and it makes my life easier, but if they can’t, so be it. I will just figure it out on my own. The least I ask is that they don’t get in my way. If you can’t help, fine. But I have no interest in talking to some stupid manager who talks to me like I’ve never heard of the concept of a guide, asks why I didn’t bring one, and suggests that I should always bring one if I want to visit their building. I can decide that just fine on my own. It only ruins my day, and probably most of my week. This is the video I made. The edited version will be on my socials as well: The second thing happened on Saturday, the 1st of August, during Pride. I had a ticket for Club Nix, but they refused me entry too. Apparently, there were stairs, and the team leader on duty was afraid of me taking them. Moreover, according to him, the smoke from the smoke machines in the building would make it even more likely that I would fall down the stairs. Another reason was that they felt it was too crowded for me. It is really frustrating to be treated like a child who can’t make their own decisions when you’re 28. Honestly, it’s exhausting. I can do stairs just fine on my own. The club also has a ground floor, so it isn’t like I had to go upstairs anyway. Even if I wanted to go up, I could have made that call just fine on my own, depending on how busy it was and how people were behaving. Also, I don’t see shit anyway. It’s not like some smoke is going to make much of a difference there. That is what the cane is for. But there is just nothing you can do in the moment when an institution is physically blocking your way and stopping you from being part of society. The only thing you can really do is document and share your experiences, and maybe start a legal case. But this shit happens way too often for me to do that every single time. I would probably end up having at least five, maybe even ten, legal cases a year. Well, I made a video of this too. You can find it here: I think those are the main highlights for now. I will keep you guys updated, and as always, thanks for reading! --- thank you for reading and being a part of my community, it means a lot! Please feel free to like or reply if you enjoyed this—it always makes my day. 😊 If you like this post and my content and wish to help, please share it with family and friends. Spreading the word always helps. 😊) And if your just visiting but not yet a member, welcome! Please consider becoming a free member. 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