We Value Your Privacy

Thank you for being interested in us. Different Minded Renaissance, Inc., which does business as the US Autism Association, and its affiliates (collectively, “USAA” or “we”) value your privacy and, as such, we are committed to respecting your privacy and keeping your information confidential, secure and private.

This notice explains what we do with your email address and other personally identifiable information or other information relating to you that can identify you (your “Information”) that we collect through our main website and our conference websites (the “Sites”) or in other initial contacts you may have with us through phones, emails, etc. For example, this Information includes your IP address, as well as your name, address and email, to the extent you disclose these to us.

Your Consent

If you use our Sites or you provide Information to us, whether on the Sites or in other ways, you accept the terms in this notice, along with the terms of use you can find on the Sites.

HOW DO WE COLLECT YOUR INFORMATION?

We collect Information from you in three main ways:

• We ask you and you provide it to us through forms, surveys, etc.
• We ask you and you provide it to us in phone calls or emails.
• We also collect some Information automatically when someone uses the Sites – in which case we may do that through tracking technology, cookies, server logs, etc.

HOW DO WE STORE YOUR INFORMATION?

We store Information using renowned third-party services with limited access such as Dropbox. We keep your Information as long as appropriate. For example, we keep our mailing list current and will keep that Information as long as we send our newsletter and for two years after. For other Information, such as conference attendance or analytics on the Sites, we generally keep it for two years.

WHO HAS ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION?

We are a non-profit organization created to help you learn about autism, not to sell Information for a profit. We want you to feel comfortable using our Sites, so we do not sell, rent, exchange or lease your Information to non-affiliated third parties.
Nevertheless, we use non-affiliated third parties (currently, Campaigner, www.campaigner.com) to send our newsletter electronically, to process donation and conference and other payments (Paypal, www.paypal.com/us/home), to host our conference website (SquareSpace www.squarespace.com and to host private discussions (Zoom, zoom.us). If you choose to use Paypal, Zoom or any other service where you are entering your Information directly on another website we have an hyperlink to on our Sites, we do not control that information, so, if you choose to use that system, please refer to their policies and notices (see below for more information). For the other service providers, if you have provided your information for these purposes, you consent to this use and should also consult their policies published on the websites listed above to understand how your Information can be used in these instances.

In addition, if you attend one of our online conferences and choose to attend private group zoom discussions, your name (and any comments you choose to make) will be visible to attendees, which may include sponsors, exhibitors and third parties interested in contacting you directly.

Finally, the above refers only to Information. We may use this Information to create aggregate data that no longer contain information that could by itself identify you and share it with third parties who wish to understand us. For example, this includes the number of donors or users from particular states.

HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION?

As a general rule, we use your Information for the purposes it was originally collected – such as to respond to your email or to provide the newsletter, conference or other products or services your requested. In addition, we use your Information principally in the following ways:

• In our day-to-day work for autism awareness, such as to answer your requests, to collect donations, to send our newsletter (which may include information about services provided by conference sponsors and exhibitors) and to market, and (in the case of online conferences) to provide, our conferences to you;
• To improve the Sites, conferences and other services we provide, which may include sending you surveys to ask about our current or future services and gathering information about your browser, IP address, or operating system to understand how your experience on the Sites is, and following websites and/or pages that our users may frequent, mainly to understand their preferences or trends in the general public;
• In some cases, to tell you about other opportunities and conferences, request donations and tell you about similar products and services that may be available and we feel may be of interest to you.

You may opt out of any or all of these communications at any time. Of course, opting out of certain uses may affect the availability of services tied to these uses. In particular, if you choose to use the Sites, we use technology – Google Analytics or similar – to collect anonymous information about the use of our Sites, such as tracking the number of visitors, the date and time of their visit, the length of their stay, and which pages they view. We also use technology to determine which web browsers our visitors use and the address from which they accessed the Site. This technology does not identify you personally. It simply enables us to compile statistics about our visitors and their use of our website. We use this anonymous data to improve the content and functionality of our website, to better understand the needs and interests of our visitors, and to improve our communications, programs and services.

Finally, as a non-profit, we are subject to audit by the IRS and certain other federal and state regulators. They may sometimes examine us and get access to Information without any notice to you. We may also give Information to governmental authorities without any notice to you if we feel it is appropriate. We may also feel that we are required by law or that it is appropriate under a legal process (whether or not we started that legal process) to disclose that Information, with or without notice to you – if that is the case, we will disclose it.

WHAT IS A COOKIE?

Our Sites use cookies to help with the functionality of our Sites. A cookie is a small piece of information that is sent to your browser and stored on your computer’s hard drive and collects Internet log information and visitor behavior information. We use cookies to keep you signed in, to recognize our preferences and to understand how you use our Site, such as the content you viewed, the links you followed and information about your browser, device and IP address. We do not share with third parties information obtained through cookies. Cookies do not damage your computer. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie. This enables you to decide if you want to accept it or not. For further information, visit allaboutcookies.org.

WHAT IF YOU ARE A CHILD UNDER 13?

If you are a child under 13 years old, please visit some other website that makes more sense for you and do not use the Sites. Our conferences and the information on our Sites is intended for adults (over 18 years old), and is definitely not intended for anyone under 13 years old. And please do not give us Information about anyone under 13 years old: we do not collect that Information and will endeavor to delete it if we find out we have it. If you have reason to believe that anyone under 13 has provided Information on our Sites, please contact us at [email protected] and we will endeavor to delete that Information.

When we obtain photographs and images of minors, we notify their parents or guardians and ask for a written and signed release before we publish them on our website (at some events with a large youth presence, we may request signed permission forms as a part of the event registration process).

WHAT ARE YOUR DATA PROTECTION RIGHTS?

Depending on where you reside, you may have different protection rights for your Information. Nevertheless, we will endeavor to give the following protections to everyone using our Sites, which are offered, for example, to EU citizens and, in some cases, to California residents:

• The right to access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your Information. We may charge you a small fee for this service.
• The right to rectification – You have the right to request that we correct any Information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request us to complete the Information you believe is incomplete.
• The right to delete – You have the right to request that we delete your Information, under certain conditions.
• The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your Information, under certain conditions.
• The right to object to processing – You have the right to object to us processing of your Information, under certain conditions.
• The right to data portability – You have the right to request that we transfer

Information that we have collected about you to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

You also have the right in certain jurisdictions to opt out of the sale of Information, but, as stated above, we do not sell your Information to unaffiliated third parties.
Of course, using any of these rights may restrict your ability to use some of our services or Sites.

HOW DO YOU CONTACT US?

If you have given us your email address and no longer wish to receive emails from us, or otherwise want to exercise any of the rights above, or if you just have questions or comments on this subject, please contact us at [email protected], call us at (888) 928-8476 or write to us at P.O. Box 612 Woodbury, CT 06798. We will do our best to respond to you promptly. In certain jurisdictions, you have a right to receive a response within a month.

If you wish to report a complaint or if you feel that we have not addressed your concerns in a satisfactory manner, certain jurisdictions allow you to contact your local authorities. For example, in the United Kingdom, this is the Information Commissioner’s office, whose information can be found at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/, Tel: 0303 123 113.

WHAT IF WE CHANGE THE CONTENTS OF THIS NOTICE?

We can change this notice at any time at our sole discretion and will post changes on the Site, so please check it periodically.

This notice is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Connecticut.