Petition Letter
Dear Dr. Stephenson,
I am writing this letter of appeal to ask for RELS 236 (Sex & Religion) and GNDS 285 (Trans politics and representation) to be dropped from my transcript and course load. Unfortunately, I am making this request because due certain circumstances, which I will elaborate on later in this letter, my disability and its symptoms have been exacerbated to a level where I don’t believe I can fulfill the requirements of my course load (e.g. assignments, focus during class, keeping up with my readings/class, etc). Early last month, a member of my community was brutally murdered during a hate motivated crime then followed up by the similarly hate motivated murder of a teen in the safety of their own school. Their deaths, our loss, and the overwhelming grief that followed has caused me to feel very unsafe outside of my home, intense anxiety, and inability to cope with the many challenges my courses and everyday life threw at me. I am an active members and organizer in my community and have been doing work in it for the last three years. I am currently overwhelmed with my own grief and need for support/safety, while being very aware that my community is looking at me and other organizers for that.
Note; I will be referencing my disability in the next section. I am already registered with Queen’s Accessibility Services and they should have the documentation to back my words.
This is where my disability came it. It is already a part time job to navigate everyday life with it, especially on campus, but now basic things like sleep and nutrition have gone out of the window. I have not been able to sleep a full night without waking up five or seven time in cold sweat, which, with sleep apnea, made getting decent rest almost impossible or a rare occurrence. On the nutrition side, I have either been forgetting to eat, because my body has been driven into a constant freeze mode or have been to nauseous to eat except when I start starving at night. All of which have greatly reduced my capacity to do my work, seek support, or simply focus on something for more than 5 minutes. I am in the process of accessing support in the form of my family doctor, to change my medication dosage, and reaching out to my therapist. Unfortunately, although those supports are helpful, the earliest appointment I could get is in late April, and even then, it would take time to rebuild my capacity.
If I may, I want to emphasize that I am not lightly dropping those two courses. Other than the fact that my instructors are amazing and intelligent people, their subject matter play a great role in my life, and even shapes my future greatly, on the career, education, and personal levels. This is also why being in them has been greatly difficult in light of what has happened.
Also, I would like to note that this appeal didn’t come to your desk earlier, similarly to why I forgot to drop those two courses by the drop date, because of my low capacity and difficulty keeping track of time.
I thank you for the time and capacity it took to read this letter and review my application.
Sincerely yours,
Jirjees Al-shammaa
I am writing this letter of appeal to ask for RELS 236 (Sex & Religion) and GNDS 285 (Trans politics and representation) to be dropped from my transcript and course load. Unfortunately, I am making this request because due certain circumstances, which I will elaborate on later in this letter, my disability and its symptoms have been exacerbated to a level where I don’t believe I can fulfill the requirements of my course load (e.g. assignments, focus during class, keeping up with my readings/class, etc). Early last month, a member of my community was brutally murdered during a hate motivated crime then followed up by the similarly hate motivated murder of a teen in the safety of their own school. Their deaths, our loss, and the overwhelming grief that followed has caused me to feel very unsafe outside of my home, intense anxiety, and inability to cope with the many challenges my courses and everyday life threw at me. I am an active members and organizer in my community and have been doing work in it for the last three years. I am currently overwhelmed with my own grief and need for support/safety, while being very aware that my community is looking at me and other organizers for that.
Note; I will be referencing my disability in the next section. I am already registered with Queen’s Accessibility Services and they should have the documentation to back my words.
This is where my disability came it. It is already a part time job to navigate everyday life with it, especially on campus, but now basic things like sleep and nutrition have gone out of the window. I have not been able to sleep a full night without waking up five or seven time in cold sweat, which, with sleep apnea, made getting decent rest almost impossible or a rare occurrence. On the nutrition side, I have either been forgetting to eat, because my body has been driven into a constant freeze mode or have been to nauseous to eat except when I start starving at night. All of which have greatly reduced my capacity to do my work, seek support, or simply focus on something for more than 5 minutes. I am in the process of accessing support in the form of my family doctor, to change my medication dosage, and reaching out to my therapist. Unfortunately, although those supports are helpful, the earliest appointment I could get is in late April, and even then, it would take time to rebuild my capacity.
If I may, I want to emphasize that I am not lightly dropping those two courses. Other than the fact that my instructors are amazing and intelligent people, their subject matter play a great role in my life, and even shapes my future greatly, on the career, education, and personal levels. This is also why being in them has been greatly difficult in light of what has happened.
Also, I would like to note that this appeal didn’t come to your desk earlier, similarly to why I forgot to drop those two courses by the drop date, because of my low capacity and difficulty keeping track of time.
I thank you for the time and capacity it took to read this letter and review my application.
Sincerely yours,
Jirjees Al-shammaa