http://www.cbc.ca/hamilton/news/stor...-mcmaster.html

Sounds to me like McMaster did exactly what it is obligated to do, to provide the student the opportunity to complete their studies. Sounds like Tang is just blaming McMaster for his injuries preventing him to be CAPABLE of completing his studies. Completely standing behind Mac on this one.
Besides, would you really want this guy being your doctor when he cant finish a written examination in 2 months??? Its been 3, or maybe 4 years since the accident from what i gathered in this article.
Guy sounds like a desperate idiot by claiming discrimination when it is actually HIS BODY that is the reason he cant complete his doctorate.

Any thoughts?

Don't worry, if he is an irresponsible jackass who jeopardized his own education, he will be left unnoticed.

Why is MrPlinkett's post reported? there is nothing wrong with what he said! If that post gets reported, i want everyone that commented on that stupid thread about the Thode guy to be reported as well!
Completely agree with you Plinkett.

Originally Posted by BusterCherry

http://www.cbc.ca/hamilton/news/stor...-mcmaster.html

Sounds to me like McMaster did exactly what it is obligated to do, to provide the student the opportunity to complete their studies. Sounds like Tang is just blaming McMaster for his injuries preventing him to be CAPABLE of completing his studies. Completely standing behind Mac on this one.
Besides, would you really want this guy being your doctor when he cant finish a written examination in 2 months??? Its been 3, or maybe 4 years since the accident from what i gathered in this article.
Guy sounds like a desperate idiot by claiming discrimination when it is actually HIS BODY that is the reason he cant complete his doctorate.

Any thoughts?

He was working on a PhD in medical sciences...He was not in medical school nor was he working towards an MD, so I don't understand what relevance his ability to "be your doctor" has on the situation.

The accommodations policy at Mac states that every reasonable effort must be made to accommodate, but the student must be able to demonstrate that they have fulfilled the requirements of the program. Things such as excusing a student from an exam is not considered an acceptable accommodation - there was a case elsewhere in Canada with a math grad student that was rather controversial also, for that reason - a student had test anxiety and so was excused from the major examination required to obtain her degree.

There are some situations where your disability simply cannot be accommodated. For example, a law student with anxiety causing them to be unable to do public speaking.

If this student is not capable of completing the requirements despite accommodations, then there's not really anything that can be done. He's not entitled to a degree. I'd really like to know what accommodations the student requested or thinks would have helped him. If his suggestions were reasonable and the school refused, then he has a case. If his suggestions were either unreasonable (ie he gets excused from his comps) or he didn't HAVE any other suggestions, then he has no case at all.

It really irritates me when people abuse their disabilities like this.

Originally Posted by starfish

He was working on a PhD in medical sciences...He was not in medical school nor was he working towards an MD, so I don't understand what relevance his ability to "be your doctor" has on the situation.

The accommodations policy at Mac states that every reasonable effort must be made to accommodate, but the student must be able to demonstrate that they have fulfilled the requirements of the program. Things such as excusing a student from an exam is not considered an acceptable accommodation - there was a case elsewhere in Canada with a math grad student that was rather controversial also, for that reason - a student had test anxiety and so was excused from the major examination required to obtain her degree.

There are some situations where your disability simply cannot be accommodated. For example, a law student with anxiety causing them to be unable to do public speaking.

If this student is not capable of completing the requirements despite accommodations, then there's not really anything that can be done. He's not entitled to a degree. I'd really like to know what accommodations the student requested or thinks would have helped him. If his suggestions were reasonable and the school refused, then he has a case. If his suggestions were either unreasonable (ie he gets excused from his comps) or he didn't HAVE any other suggestions, then he has no case at all.

It really irritates me when people abuse their disabilities like this.

My apologies on my misunderstanding of his program/degree.
But i completely agree with what you are saying here! It sounds like this student expects to basically be GIVEN his degree because he had a concussion. If you are unable to complete the requirements necessary to obtain your degree, then you dont deserve it! From reading that article, it looks like McMaster was very generous in their accommodations of the student.
I feel like this is going to be a quick and easy W in McMaster's books.

Why is MrPlinkett's post reported? there is nothing wrong with what he said! If that post gets reported, i want everyone that commented on that stupid thread about the Thode guy to be reported as well!
Completely agree with you Plinkett.

Thank you. I don't really care about it being reported, I don't even see it as reported for that matter. Maybe that guy decided to check MacInsiders and got upset about it. Oh well, wooptie doo. It's not like McMaster forced him to perform and get injured, it's not like dangers of some sports aren't clear, it's not like McMaster didn't allow him to gradually reduce his school load and just kicked him out right away. He had plenty of time to make up for his missed studies, or take academic vacation to return and continue his studies later. He will get over it.

unable to function well enough to write an exam but OK to raise a kid?

This is obviously a sad attempt in trying to con his way through a degree, it is these perverted actions that are undermining the real reason for why these services of accommodation exist. The most amusing part is how he humiliated himself rather than quietly accepting the fact that he didn't meet the standards of what was expected of him, I think his reputation to future employers and many Universities have been tarnished to some extent.

When I read that article, all i thought was...

Man, Jase, you just went full retard :/

So basically... hes a PhD dropout that is upset he couldnt cut it. The university gave him accommodations and he couldnt cut it with them. He must have had headaches for weeks after the making of that daughter of his.

Originally Posted by BusterCherry

Guy sounds like a desperate idiot by claiming discrimination when it is actually HIS BODY that is the reason he cant complete his doctorate.

Yes his body IS the reason why he can't complete his doctorate because he sustained an injury and that's why he needs accommodations. He could be untruthful but he understands his situation best and others can come close to understanding his situation by doing a thorough investigation and analysis of the situation (There is not enough information in the CBC article for anyone to judge anything and determine whether his argument is valid, they don't tell you what accommodations he needed and what McMaster offered him). It's exactly as was mentioned in the article "Brain injury can be a very complicated and individualized disability that it is difficult to appreciate in that it is an invisible injury, so I hope [this case] helps prevent these types of situations from happening in the future,."

On top of the actual injury, one needs to take into consideration that whatever disability it resulted in (for whatever period of time after the injury), is scarring... it likely destroyed his confidence. I don't know much about psychology but from my experience, decreased confidence can result in decreased school performance, and although the symptoms of his injury may have disappeared his lack of confidence may have been the cause of he's bad performance and it's only natural for him to blame his performance on the injury because he will be completely clueless with regards to his psychological confidence problem. <-- and this is one reason why no one should be bashing on him, because he himself might not realize the source of his problem, which will become clear to him and McMaster following the hearing.

Originally Posted by darkstar

unable to function well enough to write an exam but OK to raise a kid?

As long as his temperament, income, and willfullness to raise a kid a great then I don't see why not. Hopefully his temperament wasn't affected by the injury.

Originally Posted by allanandthera

This is obviously a sad attempt in trying to con his way through a degree, it is these perverted actions that are undermining the real reason for why these services of accommodation exist.

OBVIOUSLY?



and of course everyone ignores anything good that was mentioned about him in the article:

"Tang, who had previously completed the coursework component to his PhD program"
"Tang — described as “a great intellect” by his thesis advisor"

Based on these quotes, i find it difficult to believe that he wouldn't have passed the examination if he hadn't experienced the injury.

The world these days is just full of judgy people. Maybe it's time to forgo the traditional justice system and leave it to the MI community to decide what's right and what's wrong, who's guilty and who's not :p

The real lesson here is to not play sport.

Speaking of which, I see so many students riding their bikes without helmet. Are you guys insane? How much money have you invested into school and you won't even wear a $50 insurance (probably the cheapest insurance you will ever paid!) on that head of your?

You realize that when one has a concussion the first step is to essentially lock yourself in a dark room (dungeon) until you are asymptomatic. At that time, you can slowly progress your activity (reading boring material, walking around outside) but if you regain symptoms you go back to your dungeon. It's hard for any high achiever to do that and there is a drive to push yourself to recover faster than your brain is ready. Additionally, there is the external drive from one's preceptor as PhD funding is very time sensitive. There is also the expectations of a large volume of publications. I wouldn't be surprised that his brain hasn't recovered appropriately due to these intrinsic and extrinsic factors.

Originally Posted by user9753

(There is not enough information in the CBC article for anyone to judge anything and determine whether his argument is valid, they don't tell you what accommodations he needed and what McMaster offered him)."

actually, they did mention mcmaster's accommodation offer in the article:

The accommodation officials allegedly offered — increased time to complete written tasks and frequent breaks during the oral piece — were not suitable to Tang.

I'm quite confident the officials at McMaster University have taken all the precautions and have followed all the rules and guidelines they have set out, so they will be in the right. It's quite unfortunate for this individual, since it's being publicized and all. If the case doesn't go in his favor, which it probably won't, will any reputable university be extremely hesitant in enrolling him in their PhD program?

Originally Posted by herBs

I'm quite confident the officials at McMaster University have taken all the precautions and have followed all the rules and guidelines they have set out, so they will be in the right. It's quite unfortunate for this individual, since it's being publicized and all. If the case doesn't go in his favor, which it probably won't, will any reputable university be extremely hesitant in enrolling him in their PhD program?

I'm pretty sure it's the student himself who took it to the media, so I really don't feel bad at all that he'll have to live with the consequences. I agree that it'll be difficult for him to get into any PhD program now, and I also think it'll hinder his job prospects since any employer that googles him will see this.