Privacy Policy

Our Commitment
ACN recognises that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate you trusting that we will do so carefully and sensibly. To better protect your privacy, we provide this Privacy Policy.

What Personally Identifiable Information is collected and stored by ACN?
You may provide us with personal information (such as name, address, e-mail address, telephone numbers etc) that you knowingly choose to disclose.  We also collect information that you provide about your family’s circumstances to enable us to assist you with your requests.

This information is retained and used in accordance with existing laws, rules, regulations, and other policies. Our Privacy Policy outlines the measures that we use to ensure that personal information is kept secure.

How do we use information collected by the ACN?
ACN does not collect personal information from you unless you provide it to us. If you choose not to provide any of that information, we may not be able to fulfil your request or complete your order, but you will still be free to browse the other sections of the websites owned and administered by the ACN. This means that you can visit our site without telling us who you are or revealing any personally identifiable information about yourself.

Information is collected on an individual basis for various purposes. These purposes include registering as a member to receive e-mail newsletters or other materials, requesting further information from us about projects and services, donating to us, ordering merchandise, making requests, submitting applications on our website, registering attendance or simply asking a question.

Registration Information
Individuals or families who wish to receive information or attend ACN related support groups and activities are required to register as non-financial members. This allows us to have an understanding of your circumstances as well as confirmation of a diagnosis falling within the autism spectrum.

We will only ask you for information we feel is necessary i.e. your contact details and your main support needs. Any person who prefers not to disclose particular details is welcome to address this with ACN staff or Board.

Your registration information will be used for ACN administrative, reporting, marketing or planning purposes. The ACN will never share any of your personal details with anyone for commercial or other purposes of gain.

Specific Use Information
When you supply information about yourself for a specific purpose, we use the information for only that purpose (such as to provide the service or information you have requested). For example, you may be asked to give us individual information to receive information, to make a donation, to purchase merchandise, or to access a support group. Similarly, we use information you provide about yourself or someone else when placing a merchandise order only to ship the merchandise and to confirm delivery. We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order.

We may ask permission for your name and contact details to be shared with our partners    whose services you are accessing through the ACN. This is because as community support organisations, we need to report to government or other funding bodies about who is accessing our services. You reserve the right to advise us not to share this information.

Email Communications
We use email to allow you to contact us directly. We use the information provided in your e-mail to respond to your questions or comments. We may also store your comments for future reference.

Your email may be forwarded to members of the ACN management committee when necessary. Your email address or other personally identifiable details will not be shared with anyone outside the ACN management committee without your express permission.

ACN does not provide any contact details between members without the express permission of all parties. We will, with your permission, forward your details to another party you wish to contact, so that they may choose to make contact at their discretion. You can opt in to share contact information with other members through our Common Ground groups.

When forwarding information intended for use by other members, ACN will delete any personally identifiable information about the sender.

We use return email addresses to answer the email we receive. Such addresses are not used for any other purpose and are not shared with outside parties without your permission

Website
Anonymous information is collected for every visitor to our site. This includes pages viewed, date and time, and browser type. IP numbers are not stored, but are temporarily used to determine domain type and in some cases, geographic region. We are unable to make any association between this information and a visitor’s identity.

Survey
The Board of the ACN is committed to improving the services that we offer to our families. This is why we conduct an Annual member survey.

The survey is designed to give us an idea of the challenges that families face in raising their children as well as the barriers and supports currently available to families. We ask questions about preferred times and days for services to be made available and what Carers think of the services that the ACN are currently offering. We are also very interested in any ideas that Carers might have for additional services and resources that we could provide.

We do not ask any identifying information as part of the survey. That is, we don’t ask for your name, address or contact details. This is because the survey is anonymous and is designed to give us general information.

We will use the information to help us to plan our services. We will also use this information to convince the government and philanthropic organisations to provide funding and support for these activities.

Research
From time to time, the ACN conducts research into the efficacy of some of our programs. The information collected in this survey is de-identified and reported on in terms of general demographic information. This information is provided to research partners and to funding bodies to acquit funding and in further requests for support.

Choice/Opt-Out
If you have registered to receive e-mail communications from us and later change your mind, you may contact us to have your name removed from our distribution lists. You have the following options to do this:

You can send an e-mail to: info@acnaustralia.org.au with the words “Opt Out” in the Subject or,

You can send a letter to the following address:

Autism Community Network – PO Box 188, Riverwood NSW 2210

Correct/Update
If you would like to verify the data we have received from you or to make corrections to it, you may contact us directly at the e-mail and mail addresses provided above.

Changes to this Privacy Statement
Changing business practices and circumstances may require that we make changes to this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be reflected on our website.  ACN reserves the right to modify its website and/or this Privacy Policy at any time and users are deemed to be apprised of and bound by any such modifications. Our goal is to provide all services to members or visitors to the ACN in an accessible, efficient and friendly manner while maintaining their privacy. If you have comments or questions regarding privacy, please contact us. You can ask ACN to either remove or amend the information we have on record at any time.

Legal Disclaimer
We may disclose personal information when required by law or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary in order to conform to legal or regulatory requirements.

For More Information
If you have any questions, concerns or comments about our Privacy Policy, please send us a description of your concern via e-mail to info@acnaustralia.org.au

–Updated October 2022