{"id":103,"date":"2020-06-08T11:39:03","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T11:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ndsa.uk\/tool-up\/?page_id=103"},"modified":"2025-12-23T14:38:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T14:38:14","slug":"faq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ndsa.uk\/tool-up\/about-us\/faq\/","title":{"rendered":"FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"ndsaFontPara\"><p>The questions about who we are , our aims and what we do are addressed in the <a color=\"blue\" href=\"http:\/\/ndsa.uk\/wordpress-test\/?\"><b>About Us<\/b><\/a> section of the website. <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"ndsaFontList ndsaLink\"><li><a href=\"#quest3\">Are you a charity?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest2\">Are members or trustees of NDSA paid?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest4\">Are you operational and how do you actively provide public benefit?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest6\">Are your activities for the benefit of the community?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest11\">Do you have premises?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest9\">How do you comply with the Equality Act 2010?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest10\">How are you financed?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest13\">How we manage volunteer applications?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest5\">Do I become a member if I register on the forum?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest12\">What about Neurodiversity?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest1\">What is the cost of participating?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest7\">What is the legal status?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest8\">Who can become a member?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#quest14\">Is the forum moderated?<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest1\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>1. What is the cost of participating?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">Our forum and community are completely free of charge. The is no payment required at any time as a member of the forum. We are a voluntary not for profit organisation and welcome voluntary donations, but they are not in any way conditions for participating on the site. <\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest2\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>2. Are members or trustees of NDSA paid?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"> No, our Directors are volunteers, donating their time. Within a period of 6 months our current Directors contributed as individuals about 260 volunteer-hours completely free of charge.&nbsp; We are a Community Interest Company and Directors have the right to be paid but choose not to. In accordance with the law, Directors and volunteers can be reimbursed for agreed expenses incurred in furthering our aims.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest3\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>3. Are you a charity?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">We are a Community Interest Company (CIC) limited by guarantee. This allows to limit the liability and enter contracts in the name of the CIC. By law a CIC is not considered a charity, but are acting in the interest of the community as described in our Mission (form CIC 36). &nbsp;Our aims are for the interest of the community. We are registered with the company house under the number 12230781.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest4\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>4. Are you operational and how do you actively provide public benefit?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">We are a new organisation starting up, building our website and getting off the ground. We were operating informally before converting into a Community Interest Company in December 2019. We provided submission to the Autism Strategy consultation and the consultation for the Harmful Content Online, our members as individuals provide support and advice on forums.  We are launching our forum and are actively building the tools to carry out our aims.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest5\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span><br>\n5. Do I become a member if I register on the forum?<\/h4>\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">No, by registering on the forum \/ website you become a user of the forum. You are not becoming a member of the Community Interest Company (CIC) and are not committing to advocacy work. &nbsp;You can choose to become a member of the CIC later and as a separate process, but it is not compulsory or necessary for your use of the forum.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest6\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>\n6. Are your activities for the benefit of the community?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">Providing community support and peer advice to autistic adults in overcoming barriers and disadvantages of their disability is for the benefit of the community. Providing support for people with a particular disability is deemed to be supporting sufficiently large part of the community, hence is for the community benefit. It is also for the benefit of the community to tackle social exclusion and build capacity of autistic adults to support themselves and each-other, which we aim to achieve by enacting our plans.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest7\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>7. What is the legal status<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"> We are a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee. This is a common legal form for a limited liability community benefit social enterprise [link to the Resource centre <a href=\"https:\/\/www.resourcecentre.org.uk\/information\/legal-structures-for-community-and-voluntary-groups\/#cic\">https:\/\/www.resourcecentre.org.uk\/information\/legal-structures-for-community-and-voluntary-groups\/<\/a>].  We are registered with the Company House with the number 12230781.  <\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest8\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>8. Who can become a member?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">Anyone can register on the forum. You  don&#8217;t need to be a member to use the forum. Membership of the CIC is open to adults over 18 on autism spectrum, who share our aims and vision and are accepting the rules and Articles of Association of the CIC, following a decision by the Directors. To become a member, you need to apply to the Directors via \u2018contact us\u2019. <\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest9\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>9. How do you comply with the Equality Act 2010?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"> We are an equal opportunity organisation for autistic people. We have an Equal Opportunity policy. Our focus on neurodivergent adults on the autism spectrum aims to mitigate the disadvantage autistic adults experience in society due to their autism. \u2018Equality Act permits non-profit voluntary organisations to benefit people defined by reference to a \u2018protected characteristic\u2019, provided the restriction of benefits to people having that characteristic is justified in relation to the purpose. The courts will generally accept that a purpose benefits a sufficient section of the public if its beneficiaries are defined by a need, or a \u2018protected characteristic\u2019,<sup>, <\/sup>where the benefits are provided in order to tackle a particular disadvantage or need linked to that protected characteristic\u2019, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/equality-act-guidance-for-charities\/equality-act-guidance-for-charities\">guidance<\/a>.   <\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest10\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>10. How is the organisation financed?&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">We are funded by private donations from members and are developing an operational site in line with our aims. We are actively applying for grants. If you feel our aims and activities are worthwhile, please support us by making an affordable donation and \/ or become a supporter.&nbsp;<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest11\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>11. Do you have premises?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">Physical premises are not relevant to our aims. We operate on our forum and in our online collaborative space. We have a registered address.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">We also have an active working team space on Slack. Slack is used by leading organisations like IBM, BBC, Ocado etc. as it enables remote teams to collaborate on the same platform. New joiners can see what\u2019s already been discussed and shared rather than join a conversation mid-stream.&nbsp;<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">Slack customer examples: <a href=\"https:\/\/slack.com\/intl\/en-gb\/customer-stories\">https:\/\/slack.com\/intl\/en-gb\/customer-stories<\/a>&nbsp; Slack introductory use video: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9RJZMSsH7-g\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9RJZMSsH7-g<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest12\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>12. What about Neurodiversity<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">Although we are a home for autistic people (with or without co-occurring conditions) we promote the idea that there is a diversity in society. The cut off point between NT and Autistic is nuanced, we are proof of that in trying to help those that miss out on a diagnosis. There is a sliding scale from NT to Autistic. Our society is othering those that are different and sometimes is demonising them. We should be pushing for an understanding that we are not all the same and there should be more tolerance in society.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest13\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>13. How we manage volunteer applications.&nbsp;<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">We will post volunteering\nopportunities on our Advocacy Forum and on Reach Volunteering.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">We are open and committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all people with the required skills that want to contribute and support our aims as volunteers or even as directors if appropriate, as provided by our Articles of Association. Given the nature of our organisation&nbsp; we have to consider the volunteers\u2019 motivation and fit with our aims as one of the factors amongst others.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">We will invite candidates to&nbsp; an online discussion. Prior to this we may exchange with the candidate a few questions to consider. &nbsp;In the online meeting we will introduce ourselves and share key relevant information, the candidates will have every opportunity to ask questions and discuss. We may arrange additional online or face to face meetings as required.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 style=\"position:relative; font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\"><span id=\"quest14\" style=\"position:absolute; top:-100px;\"><\/span>14. Is the forum moderated?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><p style=\"font-family:'Nano Sans', sans-serif;\">Yes. But it is not pre-moderated, so you need to report to us the posts that violate the rules and terms of use<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The questions about who we are , our aims and what we do are addressed in the About Us section of the website. Are you a charity? 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