Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern,

---What I'm Appealing:
I took 4 courses in the summer of 2016. Due to extenuating circumstances, I was unable to take the courses, I was unable to drop the courses, and I ended up getting an F for all 4 courses.


---pre-notes:
I'm an online distance student & I'm a student with a disability; a paraplegic wheelchair user.


--Part 1:
In the spring of 2016, I decided I would leave Kingston and go to Kuwait to visit my parents for a duration of 3-4 months. With the help of David Youssef (academic advisor) I made a detailed plan as to which courses I needed to take, and when, in order to graduate on time and attend the 2018 spring convocation. Therefore, I took 4 courses for the summer term.


--Part 2:
Unfortunately, going to Kuwait was a very bad decision I wish I could take back. The trip was far too long; having to arrive 2 hours before an international flight, the length of the flight itself, the time to board and unboard, travel from airport---- all this was a lot to put my body through, I'm a paraplegic. Imagine being SEATED for 15+ hours and all the pressure that is on your BUTT/TAILBONE (pardon my language)

... I wanted to lessen the strain on my body, so I broke up my flight so that I could go from Toronto to Frankfurt, Germany -- stay in germany for 2 days so I can rest -- then continue to Kuwait. However, breaking up the flight was also a bad decision, because I couldn't afford a hotel, so I ended up paying for a room in someone's house through AirBnB; the room was extremely unsuitable for wheel-chair use and the bed was very solid and very low to the ground, so I hurt myself whenever I got into my wheelchair, and whenever I was in bed I would feel pain, however I thought that was pain from the airplane--- I didn't realize my body was desperately trying to tell me the bed was too hard for my skin.

... so the first flight, 2 days of a hard-surface bed, and then FINALLY the final flight from Germany to Kuwait---all this had a toll on my body. As a result, by the time I arrived in Kuwait I was sweating profusely and I couldn't stop sweating nor did I know why I was sweating. This continued until I went to the hospital in Kuwait, and after some tests and examinations, they discovered I had a pressure sore on my tail-bone. Unfortunately, in Kuwait, they are not equipped to care for spinal cord injury nor the plethora of complications that go along with spinal cord injury, and therefore I was sent home without any help whatsoever. They simply didn't know what to do.

.... sent home with the knowledge of a pressure sore, and no help, I spiraled into a deep depression from which I still have not fully emerged. My mother was forced to care for my wound with almost no knowledge of how to do so, we made many mistakes that set me back months in healing, and I lost my privacy and independence for which I had fought so hard to attain despite my disability.

.... Another horrendous issue I had to deal with was that as a paraplegic with Neuropathic pain, since 2013 I was put on a regimen of OPIATE medications to control my pain. I anticipated to be in Kuwait until August, and so my doctor provided me enough to last that duration. However, due to all of the above, and being stuck in Kuwait, when I ran out of medications, I was unable to get my opiates refilled. So ontop of everything I was dealing with I also experienced OPIATE WITHDRAWAL'S which was an absolute nightmare.


---- Therefore, unfortunately, the summer of 2016 became one of the worst times in my entire life. I've always had health issues that set me back but this time I had a large open wound, I was on bed-rest, I was in a strange country away from my apartment and my cats in Kingston, I felt alone, there was no medical help, I was in the country on a tourist visa and therefore was forced to pay for any sort of medical advice, checkup, or examination. And, since I wasn't on a permanent visa, I couldn't get access to most medications I needed.

----- all this had a toll on my health emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually and even intellectually. I couldn't take those classes, and I didn't think about dropping them because I had my own health to consider first.


.......... Therefore, it is because of all that I've written, that I ask for these 4 grades to be removed from my transcript. I want my GPA unhindered by those 4 F's. I plan to pursue my Masters and I want my own grades and GPA to reflect my actual efforts. I hope you understand.

thank you for reading and for your time and support