In 2018, Hans was elected to the Board of ADHD Europe. Before that, he had served as the president of the Dutch dyslexia association and board member of Impuls & Woortblind, the association for people with ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, etc. From 2009 onwards, he has been the chair of the Science Committee of ADHD Europe.
His current job is a coach, amongst others for employees with ‘special brains’ like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and giftedness. He founded his company – Equisto – in Rotterdam in 1998 from the vision that brain characteristics like ADHD don’t just disappear in adulthood. Hans‘ company specialises in ‘people-at-work’ and offers professional guidance to employers and their employees, with a multidisciplinary approach and a focus on the talents of workers with these brain properties.
Hans’ interest in special brains stems from his own experience. After the usual hard years in primary and secondary school without being recognised as having dyslexia, he started working next to the school at an early age. He cleaned offices, and at sixteen became the assistant of the owner of the cleaning company. His second job was clerk to the court of justice. Later on, in this court, he became one of the first experts in legal text-processing and software in law. Next to his job, he studied law and got his masters in 1989.
In this period he got burnout with anxiety problems. After a long period of therapy, he did a three-year education as a trainer/therapist. And some years later, at last, he got his diagnosis dyslexia and ADHD.