Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: - I suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) during the fall final exam period in 2022.
- Since then and to this present day, I have experienced constant brain fog, headaches and migraines, inability to use phone/computer screens for more than a couple of hours at a time, and permanent tinnitus (commonly described as a ringing sound, but some people hear other types of sounds, such as roaring or buzzing) in my ears.
- These symptoms have impacted my ability to do basic tasks such as go to sleep, because of the constant tinnitus in my ears, concentrate in class, use my computer to study and read for extended periods of time, has as a result increased my anxiety, and overall has diminished my quality of life.
- I have spent more money than I should on physical therapy and supplements in hopes of finding some relief and so that my academic career does not suffer, given my education is one of the things in my life that I most value. These expenses have caused a huge strain on me, given I come from a low income family, and rely on bursaries and OSAP to fund my studies.
- In the following winter semester, I was enrolled in POLS396, thinking I would be able to handle the course load, as I always have been able to. My record has shown that I am mainly a straight A’s student. I graduated from high school as an Ontario Scholar, last year I received the David F. And Sylvia L. Cassillis Award, on the basis of academic standing and involvement in extra-curricular activities as well as the Marshall B. Dean Scholarship, granted to one student in the Department of Political Studies on the basis of exceptional grades and academic achievement. Likewise I have been on the Dean's Honour List on more than one occasion.
- Moreover, I was set up with QSAS to try and help me manage my academic work and my post injury symptoms, however, only a few of the accommodations I was given applied to this course. I wasn’t needing 7 day extensions, since there was only one assignment in the course, and there wasn’t really anything that QSAS could do to help me manage my readings, since that was ultimately up to me.
- This politics course was one of the heaviest courses that I have ever taken (given it was a 3rd year politics seminar which are known for being way more demanding than regular courses), and given that my concussion was extremely recent, I quickly struggled to keep up. It was usually more than 50 pages of readings per week, which would take me double or triple the time to do, given my long-lasting symptoms. On top of that I was taking a full course load, as well as having a part time remote job to pay for my rent and food on the side. Likewise, I feel the course structure was not conducive to my brain injury, as the final grade only reflected three things: in class participation (which i did well in), only one essay and the final exam. Instead of having multiple essays, quizzes and assignments (which has almost always been the case in my other classes) in which I could reflect on my grades and strive to do better on multiple occasions, there was only one opportunity (the essay) to gage how well I was doing in the course, followed by the final exam. I was motivated and determined to do very well on the exam to finish with a stronger grade, but unfortunately, I did not do as well as I would have liked and more importantly, as well as I know I am capable of, due to my brain injury. Moreover, that semester I got 2 A’s, 1 A-, and one B+. I think this demonstrates that despite my brain injury, I was extremely committed to maintaining my grades even if it meant putting in double the work. I strongly believe that the two main reasons I was not able to get a good grade in this class specifically was due to the intense amount of readings, which would cause me physical pain and exacerbate my symptoms (due to headaches and migraines from intense concentration and reading (as is common in brain injuries), as well as the course structure which gave me a minimal amount of opportunities to demonstrate my abilities and minimal room for improvement. Currently, I have a grade of C on my transcript, and I strongly believe this is not a reflection of my ability, and instead a reflection of my disability. I would extremely appreciate a credit standing for this course. Thank you so much in advance for your time, compassion, and consideration. I look forward to hearing back.