Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing to late drop 2 courses from year 3 of my undergraduate studies. PHIL276 from Fall 2020, GNDS125 from Winter 2021. I failed both courses.

The main extenuating circumstance was my eczema skin condition, which then led to Lichen Simplex Chronicus (LSC) skin condition. Eczema is body rashes that cause severe itching, especially at sleep hours for me. I learnt that high stress is a common trigger, along with environmental factors and genetics. LSC wise, my KGH doctor explains it to be the itch-scratch cycle. Before I found the right remedy, I cannot help scratch heavily at my eczema regions to calm down the itch. Unfortunately, scratching only keeps the affected regions active.

Academic Harm: Due to the severe itching, my daily sleep was compromised. I either lose sleep time when I first lie down on the bed, or get woken up by itch in the early mornings. Loss of sleep made it harder to get through each day, to perform well on even one course. My mental health degraded. Although I do not know myself to have any mental health condition (ex. depression), feeling tired and frustrated most of the time increased the frequency and severity of my suicidal ideations.

When, Duration: Since May of 2019, when I first stayed the summer break at Canada to heal my GPA. Till Feb 2021, when the KGH prescription finally allowed relief. Sadly, high stress seem to easily override even the KGH ointment. Currently, both of my closely related skin conditions are still occurring. Though the KGH ointment has been the most helpful, it seems that high stress can still override the intended relief.

What Course Works Were Affected: The entirety of the two courses I am hoping to drop. It affected both weekly tasks (graded, non-graded) and big assignments.

What Steps Did You Take: Since summer 2019, I seeked continuously for eczema remedy. ON MY OWN 1.Shoppers ointment, essential oils mix MEDICAL ATTENTION 2.Queens clinic dermatologist(during year 2 of my studies, 2019-20) 3.STIs tests, when I was questioning whether my skin condition is an STI due to the location -Queen's clinic(around late 2020...doctor offered to get me a KGH session) -Queen's clinic(Jan 7th, 2021) -KCHC(Jan 28th, 2021) 4.KGH gynecologist(Feb 18, 2021)