Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am writing an appeal to the extension and dropping of a few classes for the fall semester.
It was never my intention to reach this point in my academics, and though I am disheartened by the semester eventually coming down to this, I am writing this appeal to salvage this semester and continuation of my higher education. I want to first express my gratitude as to be able to appeal for these classes.

The semester began with the death of my uncle, a man who was instrumental to my growth as a person as well as my emotional support through university. Due to financial barriers, I was unable to grieve with my family or attend the burial.
The semester was also largely obstructed by the process of being diagnosed with ADHD.
I??ve had ADHD my entire life, it??s effects ranging from moderate to severe in terms of impact over the years. My parents, largely sceptical of anything in regard to neurodiversity, largely ignored this information, and I was often left to support myself in ways I could access. I was fortunate enough to attend a high school that supported students regardless of official diagnosis, as the 4,000 financial barrier kept me from. At Queens, I began the RARC psychological assessment process and needed to pay a deposit amount that took away from my capacity to pay for part of the semester. The results of this assessment were inconclusive due to my poor mental health affecting the results process of the diagnosis. I had to then pay for another assessment, which I couldn??t really afford, but since I had started the process I had to continue. I was then officially diagnosed with ADHD and depression. I had trouble meeting academic performance expectations, in part because of my ADHD and depression. My symptoms of both grew worse since I had so little support and no access to usual accommodations. The behaviours caused by both ADHD and depression included being unable to concentrate in class and other high focus environments, extreme disorganisation and memory problems, insomnia, and depressive episodes that withdrew me further. I started taking medication in the middle of November, but it took until later for the full effects to become apparent because of the way the prescription works.

In terms of physical health, I was largely affected by 2 issues, long term illness from COVID-19 and chronic migraines. In January of this year I was unfortunate enough to catch COVID-19, this was not an easy illness for me to deal with as I was sick for quite a while and am still dealing with consequences now. I now constantly deal with chronic fatigue and various other issues that surrounding breathing. The aforementioned effects were worsened during the end of September and October by a passing flu. Being sick left me bedridden some days and sniffling the next. Due to COVID-19 and its long term impacts still a bearing a precarious and unknown position in terms of long term health and ??paperwork? there??s very little I can do to help apart from waiting. Being sick led me to losing the only part-time job that could accommodate my schedule as a don.

I also suffer from chronic and often debilitating migraines. Due to my young age and misconceptions about the severity of migraines, my doctor was begrudging in her willingness to sign any sort of paperwork that had to do with this. She would often go months before signing requested documents and charging per signature, which is why I only got my accommodations for my migraines starting in the beginning of November. I do not have the money for other treatment options, so I??m often on various medication. Due to the pandemic the medication I usually take increased in price, though difficult would have been fine if not for my mother moving jobs and no longer having access to better health insurance. My medication cost then fell to me, forcing me to have to go without. My migraines would frequently occur in the afternoons, of which I would be unable to attend tutorials and lectures in the afternoon.

The weekend of homecoming, though I was not working, I was called to deal with one of my students who wise being combative to other dons. I was on the receiving end of racist vitriol by this student, who proceeded to, over the course of the night, hurl varieties of insults, slurs, and objects at me. This student also broke the watch that was gifted to my by my now deceased uncle that I mentioned earlier. Whilst all this occurred, my bag was stolen from my room. The main item that was stolen was an old iPad I used to take notes, I lost many of the saved files and notes due to the iPad being so old and how most web uploads would take hours at a time. This incident was the catalyst point to the entire semester finally unravelling, and I was stuck in paralysis, sending email after mail asking for help, though by then it was too late.

All in all, I started the semester with few support systems, and was further plagued by financial issues caused from the diagnosis process, the theft of my belongings, cost of medication, my worsening mental health via being verbally and physically attacked by another student and my worsening health in terms of COVID-19 and migraines. The aforementioned all contributed to me losing my grasp on this semester.