Photo via Dawson

Miraf Dube

Contributor

Imagine this: it’s your first year at Dawson College. You’ve been accepted into your dream program and are loving your classes! The course load can be heavy at times, but you’re doing well. However, each week, you must attend a class that strains your body, depletes your energy, and worsens your health. What would you do? Continue the class—or walk away from school altogether?

This was the reality for one first-year student who was asked to make an impossible choice between their health and their academic future. “June” has multiple health conditions, including a degenerative physical disease, that requires close medical supervision. Per their doctor’s recommendation, they were exempt from Physical Education classes throughout high school. At Dawson, June heard that exemptions for Phys. Ed. courses were impossible to obtain. The reasons for this were unclear, and explanations varied: ‘it is against the school policy,’ or even ‘CEGEP exemptions are against Quebec law.’ June was told that Dawson’s Physical Education courses are accommodating for all students. Therefore, a lower intensity class was recommended by their Counselor at the Student AccessAbility Center (SAAC). To June’s disappointment, they were incapable of doing many of the ‘low-impact’ exercises. Feeling alienated and embarrassed, they dropped the class and looked for other options for the following semester.

Together with Victoria Ormiston, the Vice President of Academic Affairs & Advocacy at the Dawson Student Union, June began looking into exemptions. Information on this topic was sparse and faculty had never heard of a successful Phys. Ed exemption at Dawson College.

They shared that it had not been granted in possibly over 10 years. Despite this, June was hopeful since Dawson’s Institutional Student Evaluation Policy (ISEP) opposes the school’s “no exemption” narrative. It asserts that one may “be granted under exceptional circumstances.” The procedure is outlined as: “[Students] may submit a request for exemption by completing the necessary form at the Registrar’s Office.” Yet, when Ormiston followed up on this policy, she hit another roadblock. She went to the Registrar’s Office twice to try to find this form and was unsuccessful. June reached out to the Registrar’s Office regardless, determined to argue their case using ISEP. They offered two options: complete three Phys. Ed. courses, or drop out and apply to university in three years as a Mature Student. “I was so discouraged, like they don’t want me here […] They didn’t even take the time to look at me like a person — it was just this automatic ‘No.’”

Defeated, June was led back to Phys. Ed. accommodations. After meeting with Associate Dean Timothy Miller, June was guaranteed in a MIO that, “attending the course weekly will be better for [their] health.” Dean Miller assured June that the Phys. Ed. department could also “tailor the course to best fit [their] abilities.” However, this would require changing certain Physical Education competencies and requirements. Due to their condition, June is not able to take part in most of the class’s physical activities, nor to attend class weekly. Since Phys. Ed courses evaluate students on in-class participation and attendance, this would result in a failing grade in the current academic system. As June explains, “They all thought‘Exercise is good for you. You should just do this,’ not understanding whatsoever why I couldn’t.”

With no other recourse, June reached out to Leanne Bennett, Dawson’s Academic Dean. The Dean echoed what the institution had been saying all along. She writes in a MIO: “Perhaps in high school they could not, but […] we can offer a course that meets your restrictions.” It seemed that no matter how often June explained their limitations, the school refused to listen.

As a last attempt, June decided to submit a different doctor’s recommendation for a Physical Education exemption. Without explanation, Dean Bennett soon notified June that their request had been accepted. After a six month battle, this exemption has allowed a passionate student to finally pursue their program without sacrificing their health. While their success lifts the heavy burden June was carrying, this process highlighted to them the institutional barriers hindering other disabled students’ academic success:

“They were holding on so tightly to keeping things the way they have been, because in their minds, it’s been working. But I think [of] a lot of other students who had to be forced to take gym. [Students] with disabilities, including those who use wheelchairs or canes, have still been forced to take three gym classes just to graduate and I think that’s really wrong. […] Most of them probably had so much going on, or had already been shut down so many times, that they did not want to ask again. They make it really hard to ask again — and even harder to fight. ”