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Recently ousted from a community

NAS93294

Hi all,

I'm a 40-something diagnosed autistic male who until recently was a volunteer Chair of a community on behalf of a charity. A small group of the community (~5 people) took a personal dislike to me and convinced the charity to remove me from my role. I have been provided with no reason as to why I have been removed, as I'm told to do so would reveal the identity of the complainants (I know this is nonsense, but the chairty persists.)

Upon my removal, 6 other volunteers resigned, and a major event was cancelled, resulting in a significant shortfall for the charity (last year the same event raised ~£4000). Approximately 15 other members of the community have written to the charity appealing the decision and expounding support for me, but the chairty continues to double down and insist. 

I believe this is entirely because I'm autistic, and thus a small group of the members don't like me. The charity originally mentioned "communication issues" and "leadership style" as complaints, but quickly backed away from those statements once I pointed out my disability and the significant measures I've put into place to account for my interaction with the community (among other things, I appointed a vice-chair and a welfare officer.) 

I believe that I have been removed because I'm autistic and this small group of members struggle to deal with that. I have submitted a complaint to the charity commission, but I'm unsure what else I should be doing. 

Any help?

N.

  • I can only commiserate with you, in any body like this you get cliques who are incredibly disruptive and want to fix things that arn't broken. I've been in similar situations and it's horrible, it feels like such an assault and an injury, what I find worse is that these cliques manage to put thier actions forward in such a reasonable sounding way, it makes reality seem disjointed, at least other people stood with you, so you know you're not alone with this.

  • Oh, I should also add that in the last year which I've led the community, we've broken the records for annual fundraising and annual membership numbers, so there's really no other reason to remove me.