Privacy Policy

All information provided or published by ASO is for informational purposes only. You are responsible for the choice of any therapy option or service provider. Reference to any therapy option or to any program, service, or provider is not an endorsement by ASO of the therapy option, program, or service referenced. ASO assumes no responsibility for the use made of any information published or provided by ASO.

All information, including any fees, services, policies, procedures, rules and regulations outlined on this site are subject to change without prior notice by ASO.

The linking to or from this site to third party websites does not imply on the part of ASO any endorsement or guarantee of any of the information found on their respective websites.

Your privacy rights

ASO recognizes the importance of privacy and the sensitivity of personal information. We have developed this Privacy Policy to comply with applicable privacy legislation and to instil confidence in individuals, such as volunteers, donors, prospective donors, members of our community that require our support, and others that that engage with us, that the personal information they entrust to us is safe.

 

Our commitment to our community and our donors

We will not sell, share, or trade our donors’ or community member names or personal information with any other entity, nor send mailings to our donors or community members on behalf of other organizations. This commitment applies to all information received by ASO, both online and offline, including any electronic, written, or oral communications. To the extent any donations are processed through a third-party service provider, donor information will only be used for purposes necessary to process the donation.

 

Why does ASO collect personal information from you?

ASO is dedicated to improving public and professional awareness and understanding of the unique challenges, strengths, and needs of individuals with Level 1 ASD (previously known as Asperger’s Syndrome) and their families and to provide information and referrals for families and professionals and others interested in Level 1 ASD. ASO may collect personal information, when applicable, for the following purposes:

• To assess applications for volunteering, employment, or engagement of personnel to provide services to ASO members or clients;
• To respond to support requests made by individuals and their families;
  To contribute to a growing and changing resource directory and database, website, newsletters or presentations;
• To issue newsletters and event notifications;
• To keep you informed about ASO activities, including programs, and services, and fundraising opportunities;
• To solicit donations;
• To administer and manage ASO fundraising activities including issuing tax receipts where applicable;
• For planning, research, and statistical purposes;
• (With additional consent) To provide stories to media, or as part of more generalized data for research and other public relations or advocacy work.

 

How do we collect your personal information?

We collect information only by lawful and fair means and not indiscriminately. We may collect personal information directly from you when you contact us for information relating to support requests, access to services, events, fundraising, and donations. We may occasionally collect information about you from other sources, including your family members.

 

Consent

Consent for the collection, use and/or disclosure of personal information may be obtained orally or in writing and may be expressly given or implied. We may from time to time also ask you to give your written consent to the use and disclosure of specific personal information. In determining how we obtain your consent, we will take into account the sensitivity of your personal information that we are collecting, using and/or disclosing. We will use and disclose your personal information only in accordance with this policy.

 

If you do not consent

The choice to provide us with personal information is always up to you. However, your decision to withhold particular details may limit or determine our ability to provide our services to you.

 

Disclosure of your personal information

Under certain circumstances we may disclose your personal information without your consent. This includes:

• When we in good faith believe the law requires or authorizes us to do so, including reporting to Canada Revenue Agency of donations received;
• When the services that you have expressly requested from us require us to give your information to third parties, your consent will be implied unless you tell us otherwise;
• If the information is already publicly known.

We never make information associated with persons who use our services available to third parties in any form, except as set out in this Privacy Policy or unless we have your prior consent. Personal information provided to third party service providers (such as accountants) with whom we have contractual arrangements will have comparable levels of protection to the internal protection which ASO maintains for personal information.

 

Is my personal information secure?

We take all reasonable precautions to ensure that your personal information is kept safe from loss, unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure. Among the steps taken to protect your information, depending on its type and sensitivity, are:

• Restricted access to personal information;
• Deploying technological safeguards to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access;
• Where necessary or appropriate, by requiring third parties to sign a confidentiality agreement.

 

Updating your information

Since we use your personal information to provide services to you, it is important that the information be accurate and up to date. If any of the information changes, or if you should become aware that the personal information which we have is incorrect, please inform us so that we can make the necessary changes.

 

How long do you keep my personal information?

Personal information will be retained as for as long as is reasonably necessary for us to complete our engagement or communication with you, or as may be required by law.

 

Website

The only personal information captured through our website is the information you volunteer, such as your email address or mailing address, to enable us to send you requested information, or to participate in a conversation about information on the website.

We may however monitor traffic patterns, site usage, and related site information to optimise our web service. In the continuing development of our website we may also provide aggregated information to third parties, but these statistics do not contain any identifiable personal information.

Our website may contain links to other websites which are not governed by this Privacy Policy.

 

Use of cookies

The ASO website may use “cookies” and other tracking technologies for performance analytics and marketing purposes. A cookie is a text file that is placed on your hard disk by a web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you and can only be read by a web server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.

 

Cookies may include:

• The name of the ISP from which you access the Internet
• The date and time you accessed our website
• The Internet address of the website from which you enter our site and where you go after you leave our site. This information is used to measure and monitor the use of our site and to improve its content. Cookies do not personally identify you or extract any information from your computer. Data which would personally identify you is known only when voluntarily submitted.

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can typically modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the ASO services or websites you visit.

 

Communicating with ASO

E-mail or social media messages are not fully secure mediums and you should be aware of this when contacting us to send personal or confidential information.

 

Changes to Privacy Policy

This policy is effective September 2020.

 

Privacy standards in Canada

Further information on privacy and your rights in regard to your personal information may be found on the website of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.