Skip to main content

Well, I've done all I can.


My only chance of being reinstated to uni next semester rests with the “Withdrawal without academic penalty” form I've just submitted. If successful, it means that the fail grades I got for the two units I was unable to complete last semester, which lead to my exclusion, will be removed. This will raise my GPA* to well above what is required to continue with my course.

I did submit this form with my appeal against exclusion, but it was returned to me, requesting more detailed information. The medical information I included with my appeal wasn't sufficient to use with my withdrawal application. Fortunately, because I had submitted it with my appeal, I was still able to resubmit it, even after being excluded.

This time I included a report from my psychiatrist (this was no time to be shy about my mental health issues, if it could help me get reinstated), as well as from my GP. I'm glad I did, as my GP provided about three lines in a letter, while my shrink wrote me a page and a half.

With my own letter of explanation, I've done the very best I can to meet the demanding criteria of this particular form, and can only wait and see. I will be waiting some time, as they can take up to 6 weeks to come to a decision.

In the meantime, I need to put it out of my mind, and concentrate on developing a Plan B. I'm hoping to find another volunteer position in a school, helping high school students with their literacy, to complement the couple of hours I spent at the Boul (homework club) at Waterford West State School. I am also knitting like a fiend while watching lots of documentaries on ABC and SBS, and, very happily, have 10 more days of the Paralympics to keep me distracted.

I have several domestic projects to occupy me, like sugar-soaping off all the blobs of slobber and eye goober that Dexter has shaken over my walls, and de-mouldifying the drawers in my kitchen (no, I still haven't done that, and now I don't have an excuse not to). If I get really desperate, I could clean my car.

I also want to get my veggie garden up and running, and just saw an awesome vertical pallet planter on Gardening Australia that I want (someone) to (help me) make. It's perfect for growing strawberries.....

I am still passionately interested in teaching, and especially in helping young people improve their literacy, and it is still my goal to become a classroom teacher. I hope I can continue studying at QUT, but there are other options available.

*grade point average

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Understanding my physical challenges: An analogy

So, I've been trying to come up with a way to explain to a non-disabled person what it's like to face physical challenges at work, as a person with a disability. My current workplace is very physically demanding, even for me, a wheelchair user with long arms, full reach, abdominal muscle control and good balance. After 2.5 years of just getting on with it, despite the inaccessibility of large areas of my workplace, I'm at a point where I'm having to say, 'Enough. I can't do it any more.'. My employer is struggling to understand what's changed. Why is my workplace 'suddenly' inaccessible? What has changed with my health, to make my work so arduous for me now? Here's my analogy*: Imagine that you are looking for a job in the field you have just qualified for. A new employer says, if you move out to our location, we'll give you a permanent job. You just have to be able to carry 10kg. Cool, you think, I can do that. I'll uproot myself...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dear Cleaner, please don't wash my dishes.

(Warning: contains swearing. You'll see why, I hope.) Considering that I am constantly fighting with piles of dirty dishes in my little kitchen, you'd think that the first thing I'd want my cleaner to do is wash them. And I used to. But I quickly realised that although the dishes moved from the pile, through the soapy water in the sink and to the drainer, the vast majority of them didn't end up being clean. It turned out to be a great big waste of time - and a huge disappointment - and I had to wash the stupid things myself anyway. Mine aren't as pretty, but I do have a yellow bowl. So now I do them myself, eventually. When my cleaner comes, once a fortnight, I'll sit and do my dishes while he or she is doing the housework tasks I find difficult (rather than just annoying). I have also even been known to do a sink full of dishes in between cleaning visits, often in the middle of the night when I can't sleep, or when I have other pressing things to d...
5 comments
Read more

I don't want more painkillers, but maybe something different.

http://allthingsclipart.com I've had another attempt to discuss my pain management medication (Tramadol + anti-inflammatory) with the GP, and have come away with no solutions. The first time, with my regular GP, I asked for my pain meds to be reviewed, as I was finding that exercising in the gym was causing me too much pain, and that it was important for me to keep exercising, as I really need to lose weight and increase my fitness if I want to be able to work again and not end up with obesity-related illness(es). Her suggestion was that I start taking a weight-loss drug. However, as weight-loss medication is incompatible with my anti-depressant (where the main side-effect is weight-gain!!), she said I should talk to my psychiatrist about changing my anti-depressant. Apart from her having missed my point, I have no intention of changing my anti-depressant, as the last time I did that I got incredibly sick, and I'm still reeling from the fall-out from tha...
Post a Comment
Read more