Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Hello,

I am writing to apply for a second deferral of my PSYC100 exam because despite my best efforts, my academic accommodations for my autism and ADHD are still not in place. I missed the first writing of the exam because I had documented influenza and was barely able to leave my bed for eight days. I was substantially better by the writing of my other exams and completed all of them.

This is the most difficult and important of all my courses because Psychology is my major and I need to achieve an overall average of 85% to continue in my chosen program. In addition almost the entire assessment for this full year course is made of only two exams and two tests. Each one is extremely important, I would like the opportunity to do my best When I was denied the accommodation of extra time by Psych Accommodation, I was told I could appeal at the end of the year having been denied my accommodations if I fail or do poorly enough, and potentially have my mark exchanged for a pass/fail. If this were a less important course to my future and my program, perhaps I would consider that as I went ahead and wrote my exams for other courses without having the accommodations in place yet for extra time. I was able to do that because the outcome of those courses were not potentially future limiting, the way this one is.

I have been struggling intensely since I arrived at Queen’s despite having taken a gap year between high school and university solely for the purpose of becoming more self reliant and independent to be able to function on my own here. If someone were to argue that I seem to be doing fine so far without having any accommodations in place- (I have been reasonably successful in my other courses) I would answer that this has come at a very high price for me personally mentally and emotionally. Functioning academically without the support of the accommodations I am entitled to because of my disability, while learning to manage everyday adult living on my own- has resulted in me crying alone in my room daily. I eat alone because the noise and size of the cafeteria are so overwhelming I am unable to cope. I tell you these things only to assure you I am not fine without accommodations and to give you a picture of my level of functioning which restricted my ability to act more aggressively to push the situation forward in the fall.



It was never my intention to have this exam deferred again, in fact, in many ways, it’s a disadvantage to me. It’s simply because I was told that there were no other options to receive my necessary accommodations for the exam. I have had to frequently visit the wellness centre on an emergency basis over these past few months, and I had to continuously apply for temporary accommodations through their recommendation. I submitted paperwork from a healthcare professional attesting that I am autistic back in the summer along with my housing request, however I was told that QSAS required a very specific criteria for disability accommodation documentation. I also had my diagnostic letter from a specialist. Additional documentation required in the fall was delayed because my family doctor was away for several months and her replacement refused to sign forms of any kind for any of her patients. My disability forms that list my accommodations were finally filled out mid October. I have been unable to meet with anyone from QSAS to assist me. Due to the limited availability of QSAS, my appointment with Toni Thornton will take place on February 17th, and I will have to continue without formal accommodations in place until then. Truthfully, It has been an awful week of crying and struggling every single day with the news that they would not honour the accommodation. My pursuit of accessibility at Queen’s has been discouraging, and something I never anticipated while applying. If this exam weren’t so critical to my future in my program and at Queen’s university in my degree, I would be willing to get a lower mark and likely not finish it, but I’m simply unwilling to do that because of the importance it holds to my academic future.

Please allow me to write the exam with my accommodation of extra time in place. It is the QSAS backlog that necessitates that my Psych100 exam be deferred again to enable this to happen.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration,

India Holmes
20490201