Petition Letter
Dear Dr. Stephenson,
I am writing to request credit standing in my CHEM112A and CHEM112B. As a student with vision challenges and legal blindness, I faced significant difficulties during the course and the final examination, and the grade I am currently assigned does not appropriately reflect my learning or the effort I put into the courses.
Despite my QSAS advisor providing detailed information about my needs, none of the necessary accommodations were applied throughout the terms or in the final examinations. I found myself negotiating and explaining the need to be accommodated in every single assignment and lab report. My need for double the time and accessible graphs, numerical values, labs, and chemical structures were not met. I needed to write to the professor and TAs to explain my needs on a weekly basis, and often my requests were rejected. Because the labs were inaccessible, I was unable to participate and needed to rely on a partner who did the experiment and provided me with the data, often very late.
To make matters worse, my final exam for CHEM112A on December 10th (09:00-15:00) was without any accommodations whatsoever. A regular size paper exam was left without any instructions for myself or my scribe. During the exam, we needed to find out why my accommodation instructions weren??t applied and figure out a way to photocopy it to a size that was bigger but still not accessible to the 30pt size I need, or to the digital format required by my accommodations so I can use my screenreader and magnifier.
After the exam, I communicated with my professor that I did not have the necessary time or accommodations on the exam and that the stress caused by the lack of accomodation incident led to my underperformance. However, the professor decided to use the CHEM112B final grade for both courses instead of giving me a new final exam or counting my achievement throughout the course as a reflection of my grade. Despite multiple emails, and attempts to change this, the professor would not provide an alternative. This made my CHEM112B final exam much more high stakes, and this stress and pressure impacted my ability to perform well on the exam, which only exacerbated the problem. To add to the stress, my CHEM112B exam on April 17th (16:00-22:00) happened during Ramadan, a time when I was fasting and without any drink or food, which only negatively impacted my performance on the very high stakes exam.
It would be extremely unfair and inequitable to assess me on an inaccessible exam, especially given the stress and pressure I was under, and then to increase the stakes associated with my second assessment at a time when I was most vulnerable. It would be extremely disappointing to see all of my hard work jeopardized and my grades impacted negatively because of the lack of accommodations during the course and final exam that were beyond my control. As a first-year student, this was my first university exam, and I have lost trust in the university accommodations system, which impacts my ability to perform well on every exam and assessment.
I strongly believe that the lack of accommodations during my final exam severely impacted my ability to perform well on that assessment and impacted my performance on the second. I respectfully request your kind assistance in dismissing my grade and granting me credit standing in CHEM 112A and B.
Moving forward, I will be keen on communicating to QSAS the lack of accommodation in any course as it comes up. I will also be a stronger advocate for my right to be accommodated instead of trying to meet the unrealistic expectations that are placed from professors or TAs who do not necessarily understand the complexity of my vision needs. I also learned that it might be better to refuse to write an inaccessible exam versus writing an inaccessible one and dealing with the negative and unjust consequences later. Finally, I will continue checking that the Exams Office understands my needs prior to the exam day. These steps will support my academic goals.
I attach the supporting documentation from email communication, and I thank you for your support and understanding.
Best regards,
Ibrahim Kettaneh
I am writing to request credit standing in my CHEM112A and CHEM112B. As a student with vision challenges and legal blindness, I faced significant difficulties during the course and the final examination, and the grade I am currently assigned does not appropriately reflect my learning or the effort I put into the courses.
Despite my QSAS advisor providing detailed information about my needs, none of the necessary accommodations were applied throughout the terms or in the final examinations. I found myself negotiating and explaining the need to be accommodated in every single assignment and lab report. My need for double the time and accessible graphs, numerical values, labs, and chemical structures were not met. I needed to write to the professor and TAs to explain my needs on a weekly basis, and often my requests were rejected. Because the labs were inaccessible, I was unable to participate and needed to rely on a partner who did the experiment and provided me with the data, often very late.
To make matters worse, my final exam for CHEM112A on December 10th (09:00-15:00) was without any accommodations whatsoever. A regular size paper exam was left without any instructions for myself or my scribe. During the exam, we needed to find out why my accommodation instructions weren??t applied and figure out a way to photocopy it to a size that was bigger but still not accessible to the 30pt size I need, or to the digital format required by my accommodations so I can use my screenreader and magnifier.
After the exam, I communicated with my professor that I did not have the necessary time or accommodations on the exam and that the stress caused by the lack of accomodation incident led to my underperformance. However, the professor decided to use the CHEM112B final grade for both courses instead of giving me a new final exam or counting my achievement throughout the course as a reflection of my grade. Despite multiple emails, and attempts to change this, the professor would not provide an alternative. This made my CHEM112B final exam much more high stakes, and this stress and pressure impacted my ability to perform well on the exam, which only exacerbated the problem. To add to the stress, my CHEM112B exam on April 17th (16:00-22:00) happened during Ramadan, a time when I was fasting and without any drink or food, which only negatively impacted my performance on the very high stakes exam.
It would be extremely unfair and inequitable to assess me on an inaccessible exam, especially given the stress and pressure I was under, and then to increase the stakes associated with my second assessment at a time when I was most vulnerable. It would be extremely disappointing to see all of my hard work jeopardized and my grades impacted negatively because of the lack of accommodations during the course and final exam that were beyond my control. As a first-year student, this was my first university exam, and I have lost trust in the university accommodations system, which impacts my ability to perform well on every exam and assessment.
I strongly believe that the lack of accommodations during my final exam severely impacted my ability to perform well on that assessment and impacted my performance on the second. I respectfully request your kind assistance in dismissing my grade and granting me credit standing in CHEM 112A and B.
Moving forward, I will be keen on communicating to QSAS the lack of accommodation in any course as it comes up. I will also be a stronger advocate for my right to be accommodated instead of trying to meet the unrealistic expectations that are placed from professors or TAs who do not necessarily understand the complexity of my vision needs. I also learned that it might be better to refuse to write an inaccessible exam versus writing an inaccessible one and dealing with the negative and unjust consequences later. Finally, I will continue checking that the Exams Office understands my needs prior to the exam day. These steps will support my academic goals.
I attach the supporting documentation from email communication, and I thank you for your support and understanding.
Best regards,
Ibrahim Kettaneh