WATERLOO - Roch Longue�p�e started a legal fight with both Waterloo universities - to force them to admit more brain-injured applicants such as himself.

He's achieved part of his goal with a court ruling against the University of Waterloo.

But securing the ruling has taken six years. His poor health has worsened. He's had to battle not only the university, but also an Ontario human rights tribunal that rejected his discrimination claim.

Longue�p�e is gravely ill at 49. He says he's mostly bedridden in his Kitchener home, suffering from trauma-induced conditions. "I'm fighting for my life right now," he said.

He declined to comment on the court ruling, while waiting to see if it is appealed.

Longue�p�e applied to UW's Faculty of Arts in 2013 as a transfer student, arguing he could succeed academically if accommodated for his brain injury.

The university rejected him over the D grade he achieved 14 years earlier at Dalhousie University, where he dropped out before his brain injury was diagnosed.

On Friday a court ordered UW to reconsider his application, reversing a human rights ruling that said UW did nothing wrong in rejecting him.

UW is reviewing the court ruling, a spokesperson said. The school would not comment further.

Longue�p�e suffered abuse during a traumatic childhood in the Maritimes. He has gained a profile advocating for children who are victims of institutional care.

He launched his legal battle after researching Ontario universities and concluding they would not give proper consideration to his disability.

"I made a decision that I can either choose just to let this go, or I can just pick a couple of universities and go after them. And that's what I chose to do," he said in an interview in 2013. "I'm angry."

Legal Aid Ontario funded his discrimination claim as a test case. It's a provincial agency for low-income people who can't afford lawyers.

The support "is helping not only Mr. Longue�p�e but other individuals such as those in Aboriginal and First Nations, racialized communities, people with mental illness and others," Legal Aid president David Field said in a 2016 statement.

"We believe that test cases can help advance and protect the rights of low-income Ontarians and, ultimately, improve access to justice."

There have been twists and turns in the legal battle.

Longue�p�e settled his dispute with Wilfrid Laurier University after it rejected him for admission. He would not disclose the terms of settlement. He continued to claim discrimination by UW.

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In 2017, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled against him and for the university, concluding that admitting Longue�p�e would be akin to providing a free pass to disabled students who apply with substandard marks.

Adjudicator Jennifer Scott wrote: "All the student would have to say is 'I am a student with a disability and my grades are not an accurate reflection of my ability to succeed, either because I was not accommodated at all or was not appropriately accommodated'."

A panel of three judges has unanimously reversed her ruling after Longue�p�e appealed to the Superior Court of Justice.

Judges found that in refusing to admit him, UW leaned too heavily on his poor marks and failed to accommodate him, by not considering other factors such as his volunteer work that might show his ability to succeed academically.

The university has not been directed to admit him. It must reconsider his application in an accommodated admissions process, consistent with the court's reasoning.

"This is by no means a 'free pass' into university for Mr. Longue�p�e and would not undermine the integrity of the overall admissions process, which is substantially marks-based," the court concluded.

The rights tribunal declined to comment on the reversal of its ruling. In a statement it said it "follows the direction and guidance in the decisions of the court."

UW has been ordered to pay $20,000 in costs. This offsets almost $36,000 spent by Legal Aid to pursue the case for Longue�p�e. "All of the parties were publicly funded in one way or another," the court said.

jouthit@therecord.com

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