My name is Ada Seebaran. I am an 18-year-old physically disabled and chronically ill person who recently finished grade 12 in Victoria, British Columbia. When I was 16, my chronic illness became debilitating and started significantly decreasing my ability to complete schoolwork. When I had to do my grade 10 graduation assessment tests, I noticed that I did not at all have enough time to fully complete most of them within the time I was given to do so, even with the extra 2 hours I was given as an adaptation due to my ADHD diagnosis. Due to my chronic illness, I sometimes struggle with moving certain parts of my body, including my hands and arms. I also experience extreme fatigue, which causes my hands, arms and fingers to get worn out after a while when I'm using them a lot. Sometimes it can even get hard for me to keep my eyes open after doing tasks, especially those that require me to stare at a screen for a long period of time. Therefore, I can usually only do computer work for a certain amount of time before my body gives out and I have to rest for a while before I'm able to continue my work. This period of recovery can usually last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours for me, and on really bad days (Which chronically ill people usually refer to as flare-ups), I may not be able to do any computer work at all, or may only be able to do a small amount of it. And while some things can cause me to flare up, flare-ups can also come at unpredicted moments, with seemingly no cause. I ended up having to redo one of my grade 10 assessments this year since it was decided that I had not completed enough of it. I have now gotten a passing result on this assessment, but my result still does not reflect my true competencies, nor do my results on any of the other ones I have now done. Limited energy to work and flare-ups are something that many chronically ill people struggle with. It is likely that most chronically ill high school students in BC currently have the same problem as me, and that chronically ill students who have not yet done their grade 10 and grade 12 governmental assessments will have this problem in the future if nothing is done to change the rules for adaptations. According to Statistics Canada, approximately 13.7% of Canadians aged 15 years and over reported having one or more disabilities that limited their daily activities (Canadian Survey on Disability, 2017). Therefore, the current rules for the tests, which do not allow any students to complete an assessment over more than one day, to choose the days on which they do the assessments, or even just to have a reduced number of questions, create an unfair disadvantage for me and other high school students with chronic illnesses. Please be reminded that colleges and universities also look at the results of applying students on their graduation assessment tests and that some institutions prefer a result that is equal to or higher than 3 out of 4.

 
The current system fails to consider the unique needs of each student and instead applies an approach that does not work for everyone. We need a system that is flexible enough to adapt to each individual's requirements while maintaining academic integrity. My suggestion would be, if possible, to allow chronically ill students to work on each of these assessments over as many days as needed, and preferably to be able to start the assessments on a date that works best for them symptom-wise. If neither of these two adaptations can be put into place, we should at the very least be allowed to have a reduced number of questions.

I am calling on the Ministry of Education in British Columbia to reform these adaptation rules, and I am in the process of writing them a letter on the subject. It's time we ensure every student has equal opportunities when it comes to their education. Chronically ill high school students deserve to be able to graduate high school, get into post-secondary programs, and have test results that reflect their knowledge and skill rather than their health problems. Please sign this petition if you believe in equal educational opportunities for all students regardless of their physical conditions or health status.