Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,

I am appealing to drop ARTH 210 (Fall, 2015), ARTH 248 (Fall, 2015) and ARTH 292 (Fall, 2015).

I previously took leave of school in order to cope with a psychological challenge of increasing severity and while I sought help through medication and regular consultation, additional problems appeared related to the initial illness. These problems are interconnected and tend to exacerbate the severity and impact on my studies and daily life to the point of being debilitating.

What I was not prepared for was how severe the impact would be outside of a controlled environment and the stress of returning to school after an extended leave and academic demands that I found to be even more difficult than I remembered led to the psychological challenge spawning physical illnesses which spawned further psychological challenges.

Some of these problems are unfortunately chronic and will continue to persist for my entire life and actually has affected it previously according to my physician. While the severity is variable, it will continue to affect my mental acuity which will affect everything from note taking to exams and even studying for those exams. My focus, memory, organization and even prioritization are inhibited by more than one psychological challenge and one can see how it can impact every step in life and academics, a burden that is only worsened by sleep problems and lethargy that at times can leave me bedridden. The latter can make it difficult to even make it to my classes but the former will make every single moment a challenge.

It was a struggle to make it to class early on and missing those classes only further exacerbated my psychological problems which lead to a largely unpleasant episode of depression around midterms. Prior to that I was able to attend around 75 of my classes but afterwards I could barely attend a handful before I returned home to seek direct help and intervention. Even before that I found it increasingly difficult to focus reading and even listening to what was being said during these lectures. My physician said that as a rule of thumb, for every hour spent studying I would benefit from less than half of that with ADHD but adding depression to that further worsened that.

However, I know that this is a challenge I can overcome. For the past year and during the Fall Term I have been taking medication to help cope with several psychological challenges and am currently undergoing Behavioural Therapy and regular counselling sessions to prevent these challenges from defining my life. I was also looking to make use of the accommodations provided by Accessibility Services but gathering the proper documentation took far longer than anticipated and was not available during the Fall Term flare up. I have consulted with Accessibility Services Advisor Karen Stevenson since and I have also booked an appointment with Learning Strategies Development for the new year.

It is unlikely that I will see immediate results but I have to continue challenging myself in order to better myself academically and in my personal life and while it is from my vantage point a monumental undertaking, I hope that with the continued support of my family and Queen's I will succeed.

Sincerely,

Gabriel Lapena