Advice -- discrimination

Hi everybody,

I suffer from selective mutism and I was working in a group for my masters thesis, but now this is all done. I informed my supervisor of my condition at the beginning of the project, and I also gave him a text about the condition that he read in front of me. He agreed to put something in place in order to enable me to participate in a meaningful way.

However I had to suffer from social rejection which was difficult to cope with, and this resulted in the fact that I lost my temper one day. Another person who was there said that this was not a big deal and everybody can be human sometimes, however for the rest of my time there, my supervisor avoided me and treated me differently from everybody else. He did not want to teach me or work with with me, made some dismissive remarks in front of others, and forced me to talk in front of the group which I found humiliating because I couldn't do that. He also refused to reply to some emails, which is something he acknowledged he was doing on purpose. I ended up suffering from depression, but he ignored the doctors note. Each time I tried to have some form of communication or to understand what was going on, he made me feel guilty or inappropriate.

I was really in need of help because I couldn't work properly any longer. I am still in shock because of what happened, although I managed to finish the project but not within the deadline. On the other hand, before all this he genuinely tried to help me. He actually had to take care of a lot of the project in the end because I was unable to do anything and I was just isolating myself and doing nothing, which I am still doing now.

So I wanted to write a letter to the university and inform them of what has been done to me, so that it doesn't happen to other students, and also suggest ways to prevent this in the future. Also I would find it liberating. But I am feeling guilty about talking bad about my supervisor, because he did try to help me at first and he helped me a lot on the project (though avoiding contacts with me). So I would like to report his behaviour to the university, but I'm having serious moral issues.
What do you think is the right thing to do? I feel the whole situation is based on a misunderstanding because of a lack of communication and I don't know what are the consequences of reporting someone. Besides, I don't fully understand who's responsible for what because all communication is broken.

You should report him definatley, you have a right to do so and dont deserve to be treated that way. Im at university and would do the same. Maybe you should email him about it first to make sure it wasnt just a misunderstading, but if theres no reply go ahead and report

Killuminatimj wrote:You should report him definatley, you have a right to do so and dont deserve to be treated that way. Im at university and would do the same. Maybe you should email him about it first to make sure it wasnt just a misunderstading, but if theres no reply go ahead and report

Thank you for your reply. This makes me feel a bit better to know that at least some people feel it's fine to report this. I'll follow your advice and write to him first, although I have experience that this doesn't work but at least I should give him a chance.