ios 9.0.2 - cannot get onto wifi AND apple password not recognized

hi -- i have searched through many, many forums to try to find the solution to my problem but no success.

i should preface this by saying that i'm traveling internationally for a year so my ipad only runs on wifi. i'm saying this just so you know it's not an issue with my home router.

i have an ipad mini running on ios 9.0.2. no previous problems but starting 2 days ago (i think this is when it upgraded from 9.0.1 to 9.0.2), i can't connect to wifi. have tried multiple wifi networks. my laptop/iphone have no problems; it is only my ipad. have tried turning off/on wifi, soft reset, turning off wifi assist, reset network settings, reset all settings... but still no success. it says that it is unable to connect because of an incorrect password but i know it's correct. it worked just a few days ago using the same wifi network.

i did a full back-up onto my laptop and was going to erase the whole ipad and restore back-up, but it is telling me to disable "find my ipad". yet when i try to do this, it rejects my password even though i have not changed it.

any advice on what to do? i appreciate it!