Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am writing to explain the extenuating circumstance that prevented me from writing the deferred exam for ENGL 290, and ask that I be allowed to defer the exam again and write it during the next deferred exam period. I’ve been diagnosed with agoraphobia stemming from struggling with physical illness for the past few years. I am registered with QSAS for this. This means it’s very difficult for me to leave the house in many instances. I have gotten much better through therapy and coping mechanisms since being diagnosed, however travelling long distances is still very difficult for me and causes significant physical and subsequent mental struggles and sometimes I can’t manage it. Since I live in the GTA and had to move back home for the summer after term ended, I was supposed to travel to Kingston to write the deferred exam in person, which I had planned to do and thought I could handle since I had no other choice, but I just was not able to do it as the agoraphobia got too severe before leaving. This is not an issue that will likely happen again, since I am able to handle shorter distances much better and will be in Kingston throughout the next school year. I reached out to my QSAS advisor and he said that I should try this route, and if the petition is not granted, I should petition to drop the course and take it again next year. I am not able to provide a letter from a professional as I was not seeing a professional about this issue at the time, since it's an ongoing/chronic issue, so I will just attach the form they already filled out for QSAS. Please let me know if there’s any more information I could provide. Thank you for your consideration.