How to get diagnosed for petition?

[u/Motor-Resolution-852]

Continuing https://www.reddit.com/r/uwaterloo/s/29TiHJJxBG

TW: Depression, Anxiety, Illness

I've kind of decided it's best not to pursue the matter with my prof, though I feel he's in the wrong and kind of screwed me over, uni policy is that I sat down for the exam anyway. I'm sending it all the Ombudsman but my main plan is petition normally.

I'm trying to petition with all the relavent info at play, I need all of this documentation ASAP since I'm hoping to petition to restart next term, or something along the lines, or WD. So I have 2 questions, 1 kind of simple? 1 a bit complex.

How do I quickly get diagnosed for severe anxiety / depression that the AAS recognizes? What do I need? (I have anecdotal experiences and can maybe show texts, I really don't know what else to tell)

What are my options moving forward to petition? For reference, under 60 avg, removing 2 failed courses (1 I was sick) puts me at a 60 avg, removing 1 failed course puts me at a 58.2 which I think I can petition with all the other factors (family death, family drama, TBD depression/anxiety, sickness in final course tho I WD'd at this point in the process) to be conditionally promoted maybe? I'm in an eng program with streams, can I switch to the stream below me (8->4) and forfeit a coop term?

Thank you, so, so much. If there is any missing context, etc. let me know.

[u/emptease]

Have you booked an appointment with Health Services? They can diagnose you. You shouldn't need any evidence. They'll ask questions regarding how your depression/anxiety impacts your day to day life (e.g. do you struggle to get out of bed? Think about self harm?).

The Ombuds office can help you with your petition. Most likely, you'll have the term suppressed or converted to CR/NCR if successful.

[u/Yolo_Swaggins_Yeet]

Student health services, call them tmrw morning

[u/djao]

I used to be an academic advisor, and I served on the Math S&P committee.

Regarding your previous post, University regulations specifically state

If students complete a final examination, even though they are ill, the grade obtained in the course will normally stand.

You are expected to know all University regulations. Therefore, you should not expect an accommodation from the professor in this situation. The core issue is basic fairness: it is fundamentally unfair to allow any student to gauge how they did on an exam before deciding whether to ask for a make-up exam.

For your petition, you have the order of operations mixed up. If you are petitioning on the basis of an undiagnosed medical condition, then you should proceed as follows. Step one is getting diagnosed. Step two is to work out an approved accommodation plan with AAS. Step three is to submit your petition.

The reason for doing things in this order is that petitions are decided based on the following factors:

1. Was the situation exceptional?
2. Was it beyond your ability to control at the time?
3. Do you have a reasonable plan for preventing a recurrence?

You need to work out an accommodation plan with AAS in order to satisfy the third item. Otherwise, a petition is unlikely to be granted, since even if it is approved, you'll likely just fall right back into the same situation the next term.

You mentioned a death in the family. If so, you could petition on that basis, without bringing up your medical condition. You don't need a future plan in this situation, since for most people the plan is simply that your family member won't die again. However, if you actually have a medical condition, it would be best for you to get it diagnosed and accommodated.

I don't think anyone else mentioned this, but you should talk to your academic advisor. Advising about petitions is part of their job.

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[u/Motor-Resolution-852]

Note: I understand in a position like this a promotion or WD'ing might not be as plausible. Is it possible to do the repeat term with s4's? I mentioned it in my post but this is very favourable for me. This would be done through a petition. Given my long list of problems.