Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am appealing the Faculty's decision that I must withdraw from Queen's for a minimum of one year, to drop MATH 121 and PHYS 117, and to give my three other courses credit standing.
My extenuating circumstances were the tremors in both of my arms. The hand trembling was constant and occasionally, I would spontaneously have vigorous tremors. The spontaneous shaking would occur during my labs and lectures. In class, I would stretch out my hands and try to continue working, but I ended up being slightly behind. And, during my chemistry lab, I dropped an Erlenmeyer flask which has slipped out of my hand and I could not have caught it in the air with my hands lacking the ability to form a strong grip. This was a disability that I wanted an end to. These tremors have occurred since grade 9, and I had previously visited a doctor when I was in my home-town of Markham who had diagnosed the tremors to be a lack of iron. But I felt that the tremors were getting worse and impeding in my studies so I booked an appointment for Tuesday March 17th.
Leading up to the appointment, my tremors were getting less severe. The doctor at the La Salle told me that my hand tremors were not pathological. I passed all the physical tests and my blood report, including my iron, was normal. The doctor asked me if I wanted medication for my tremors, or if I wanted to have accommodations, I declined both. My mistake was that I was hoping that the tremors would go away and my note taking would improve. It had not and I regret the decision I made. Making the adjustment from high school to university was stressful enough, but now I had to deal with a disability which as directly affecting my ability to receive and retain information during class. By the time I realized that I needed medication, I was studying for my final exams in April. I would go home every weekend because I wanted to get more studying done. I did not have time to go make an appointment and tried to ignore it as much as possible. My tremors made math based courses like Math 121 and Physics 117 difficult to study for because they involved more writing, which at this point was becoming more and more strenuous. My notes for other courses were lacking in structure and content. So I asked my fellow classmates to borrow their notes. I was unfamiliar with the organization and structure of their notes. I realize that my disability was not the only factor in the result if my marks. There was stress, anxiety and the many variables of living alone and without my parents for the first time, but none were as significant as my trembling hands.