'They didn't want to help': Teen with ADHD says Marianopolis College denied her right to accommodation
CTV
A Montreal teen is speaking out after it took months to obtain an exam accommodation for her diagnosed ADHD. She alleges her CEGEP lied about its assessment criteria and failed to take her disability seriously -- so her family filed a human rights complaint.
For years, 17-year-old Katrina's ADHD flew under the radar.
Despite difficulty concentrating, young Katrina* was a star student. She recounts re-teaching herself the material at home after spacing out in class, determined to get up to speed -- and beyond.
But when high school rolled around and the schoolwork piled up, Katrina's mother, Helen Brindalos, said the symptoms became impossible to ignore.
In Grade 8, she was officially diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Brindalos said the response at her daughter's Montreal high school was swift. Katrina was granted several accommodations to help her keep up, including the option to type in-class essays on a computer rather than write them by hand.
The hope was to secure a similar arrangement at college.
But the process would be far rockier than Katrina expected -- culminating in a months-long clash between her parents and the school, tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, and a complaint with Quebec's youth rights commission.
