Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Good afternoon,

I'm filing an appeal to submit outstanding course work due to the following extenuating circumstances, which prevented me from meeting academic requirements, and are interlinked:


- In the summer of 2019, I was diagnosed with IBS-D. I would experience severe diarrheal cramping, intense stomach discomfort and gas, with flare-ups occurring on a daily basis, in which I would often need to remain close to a restroom. These symptoms would last for 50 to 80 of my day, having anywhere from three to ten diarrheal bowel movements in a day. These symptoms were worsened in severity and frequency by the medication I was initially prescribed, leading me to pursue treatment through non-medicinal means, and managing it through diet and lifestyle (which saw very little progress until recently). This impacted my ability to meet academic requirements, because I was often required to miss class during flare-ups, attend classes late, or have extreme difficulty focusing if I began to experience a flare-up in class or while working on an assignment. I would frequently experience flare-ups during the evening and during the night, which deeply compromised sleep quality and any attempts to maintain a healthy and productive sleep schedule. During flare-ups, I would feel intense discomfort and restlessness, which I've since understood to be feelings of generalized anxiety.


- Experiencing such a limiting and uncomfortable disability, in the face of pre-existing ambitions to attending law school, was extremely distressing and had a disruptive effect on my mental health. I was raised to believe that my life's value is tied to my ability to help others, and make the world a better place, and feeling locked away from being able to realize that due to a disability, thrusted upon me feelings of worthlessness, of self-loathing, and (at times) suicidal ideation. It felt existentially frustrating to have to struggle with this, and made me feel like I would have to abandon my dreams and my lifegoals due to my physical disability. I would experience these depressive symptoms often, worsened whenever I would experience especially severe flare-ups, and felt that these feelings coincided with feelings of burnout. I so desperately and urgently wanted to be better that I would mistake signs of progress as indicators that I've overcome my disability--this relates to the Academic Consideration I'd filed for the courses I'd taken in Fall 2019. I set accommodations with my instructors when it got approved, but failed to meet those accommodations as my IBS symptoms, and depressive symptoms, were still present. These feelings would often cloud over me and compromise any attempts to recover and heal, and I would feel unable to engage with my academic responsibilities. I became avoidant and would neglect my academic responsibilities because of feelings of resignation and hopelessness.


Over the last two months, I've been in frequent contact with SWS Counsellor Solida, who helped me immensely in dealing with these feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness and avoidance. She equipped me with coping mechanisms to handle low moments or difficult feelings. I've made immense progress towards managing my IBS symptoms through managing my diet and lifestyle. I've gotten into the routine of taking a fiber supplement which has reduced the frequency of flare-ups to an hour every morning, having one or two healthy bowel movements throughout the day. It's been extremely encouraging, and has absolved me of a lot of my feelings of hopelessness and resignation. It's been so genuinely uplifting to see the progress I've made. My gastrologist has said that I'm very close to outright curing my symptoms (I'm currently looking into probiotic supplements and IBGard as next steps to fully cure myself of this). I feel a renewed strength, I feel capable again, and I'm now able to live, I'm now able to work. I want to make good on the accommodations I'd made based on the Fall 2019 Academic Consideration. My intention is to submit my work and pass these courses so that I can graduate with Honours this year. I want to complete my outstanding work so that I can prove to the administration, and to myself, that I've overcome this.


SWS Counsellor Solida has completed a form with me in support of my appeal, and to confirm the veracity of the experiences I've described above.