About the Charity
Our charitable aims are all regarding the support of Autistic Adults who do not have an Intellectual Disability. You may have known these people as having “Asperger’s Syndrome” or “High Functioning Autism”. As a charity we do not use “functioning” labels as we do not see them as supportive and have reduced our use of the term “Asperger’s Syndrome” due to it no longer being a diagnostic term (but we respect those who identify as having Aspergers).
We find that describing our beneficiaries as Autistic Adults who do not have an Intellectual Disability is more accurate than the terms previously used. Our aims are based on working with Autistic people who have been missed out, left behind or regularly referred to services that do not meet their needs.
This is often due to there still being a lot of misinformation around Autism, where people wish to class it as an intellectual disability (which is categorised as having an IQ70 or below). The “Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities” believe that 1% of the population have an Autism Spectrum Condition, and of those people 60-70% have an intellectual disability.
We are here for the 30-40% of diagnosed Autistic adults who are not being appropriately supported.
About the Executive Committee
Chief Executive Officer - Claire Smith
Claire trained as a British Sign Language Interpreter, as well as a disability advocate. From there professional experiences and her own personal experiences in trying to find appropriate support she founded Autistic Nottingham and designed many of it's services. She is currently studying "Voluntary Sector Management" at Bayes Business School in London. Claire was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Condition at the age of 27.
Chief Operating Officer - Louisa Hackford-Gentle
Louisa holds a HND Adult Nursing, as well as being a qualified Autism Advocate. Louisa has
worked for Autistic Nottingham since it became a registered charity as an Autism Advocate and PA, she became Service Coordinator in 2020 and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer later that year when she was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Condition at 26yrs old. She is also studying "Voluntary Sector Management" with the Bayes Business School in London.
Chief Financial Officer - Jonathon Whyte
Jonathon is a registered Radiographer and holds an MBA in Business Management. Jonathon was diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum at 23yrs old and uses his knowledge of the NHS and Business Management to support our charity.
Chief Technical Officer - Paul Dunn
Paul works full time in IT as well as being our technical officer. He holds a Computer Science degree from the University of Nottingham and was diagnosed at the age of 27. Since his diagnosis he has found a real
passion for helping other Autistic Adults both in the workplace and as part of our charity.
The Trustee Committee
The
function of a Trustee Committee within a charity is to ensure the Charity is
meeting it’s charitable aims and working in the best interests of it’s
beneficiaries (people who benefit from the charity). Trustee’s are not allowed
to financially gain from the Charity, so are all voluntary positions. They meet
three to four times a year to discuss the needs of the Charity and to check the
Executive Committee is doing it’s best to support that work.
We
currently have four members on our Trustee Committee, all are diagnosed
Autistic adults without intellectual disabilities.
The information of Trustees are public knowledge and are viewable on
the Charity Commission website along with information
about our financials throughout the years. If you ever wish to ask the Trustee
Committee a question, you are always welcome to drop us an email at info@autisticnottingham.org.
This will be passed to the Trustee Committee who will issue you a formal
response when they are able to.