ION Privacy Policy

The Institute Of Neurodiversity – “ION” is committed to protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information. The policy describes what information ION may collect about you; how we use your information; how we protect it; and what rights you have in relation to the personal data we hold about you. Being incorporated in Switzerland the policy adheres to the Swiss Federal Data Protection Act as revised on 25th September 2020.

We may update this privacy policy from time to time and we will state on the policy the date when it was last updated. Any changes will be effective immediately upon being posted on our website, unless otherwise stated.

The ION Privacy Policy is consistent with and complementary to the privacy policy of the provider of our membership management services, Wild Apricot. Consistent in that it provides the same provisions on the collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information that ION commits to as an organisation. Complementary in that, while Wild Apricot is responsible for their handling of that information, the similar commitments of ION itself in handling that information are confirmed here.

When you provide personal data about yourself to us, you are deemed to have consented to our collection, use and/or disclosure of your personal data for the purposes set out in this policy. The information that we process is that which is reasonably necessary in relation to your ION membership.

We may also obtain data from you by way of details of your visits to our website including, but not limited to, location data, traffic data and usage of a desktop or tablet device.

Member profile default privacy settings

Our directory is only visible to ION members. In line with our values, we want to encourage our members to collaborate together while still maintaining their individual privacy. Upon completing your membership profile there are some fields that we have set by default to appear in the membership directory. We believe it’s important for you to know what these are and be aware that you have the option to change them.

ION members can edit their own personal privacy settings within their website member profile at any time should they wish to show more or less visibility to fellow members, including changing the default settings we have initially applied to whatever suits them best.

We have limited the default visible personal information that will appear on the member directory to; name and photo and a short description about you (should you choose to include them) with the addition of organisation, for corporate bundle members only.

We have also enabled a member send message form that by default allows all ION members to be emailed by other members without revealing the recipient’s email address. The email received is sent via ION, but contains the senders contact email to enable the recipient to reply should they wish (replying will divulge your email address)

We encourage our members to set their own member profile privacy settings to whatever they are comfortable sharing with the ION members community. ION Institute of Neurodiversity are not responsible for the content of any communications between its members.

What types of personal data do we collect?

We may collect some or all of the following personal, special category and non-personal data:

How and when we collect your personal data

We may collect your personal data in a number of ways, as follows:

 When you provide personal data about yourself to us, you are deemed to have consented to our collection, use and/or disclosure of your personal data for the purposes set out in this policy. The information that we process is that which is reasonably necessary in relation to your ION membership.

We may also obtain data from you by way of details of your visits to our website including, but not limited to, location data, traffic data and usage of a desktop or tablet device. 

What types of personal data do we collect?

We may collect some or all of the following personal, special category and non-personal data:

Know your rights

Your rights are as follows:

• • the right to be informed about our collection and use of the personal data you provide;
  • the right of access to the personal data we hold about you;
  • the right to rectification if any personal data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete;
  • the right to erasure i.e. the right to be forgotten upon request;
  • the right to restrict i.e. to restrict the uses of your personal data for any specific type of processing;
  • the right to data portability i.e. obtaining a copy of your personal data and using it for other parties you wish to engage with;
  • the right to object to us using your personal data for any particular purpose; and
  • rights on automated decision making and profiling i.e. the right to restrict or object to automated decision making processes or profiling based on your personal data.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights please contact us at admin@ioneurodiversity.org

You may ask us to confirm what information we hold about you at any time, and request us to modify, update or delete such information. We may ask you to verify your identity and for more information in connection with your request.

You can access and modify your own member profile information at any time.

If we provide you with access to the information we hold about you, we will not charge you for this unless your request is “manifestly unfounded or excessive”. If you request further copies of this information from us, we may charge you a reasonable administrative cost where legally permissible. Where we are legally permitted to do so, we may refuse your request. If we refuse your request we will always tell you the reasons for doing so. 

Using and storing your personal data

All personal data is processed and stored securely, for no longer than is necessary in light of the reason(s) for which it was first collected for the performance of our contract with you, because you have consented to our use of your personal data (e.g. by subscribing to emails), or because it is in our legitimate interests.

• • Specifically, we may use your personal data for the following purposes:
  • providing and managing your ION membership and membership experience;
  • our provision of courses;
  • to meet your requests for information or services;
  • our provision of information and experiences to promote ION and create awareness and research on Neurodiversity, sponsorship and advertising;
  • our market research, including product usage and transactional data;
  • to deal with any problems or complaints that arise in relation to your membership; and
  • for any other purpose for which you specifically give us your personal data.

With your permission and/or where permitted by law, we may also use your information for marketing purposes which may include contacting you by email and/or telephone and text message with information and news on our products and services. We will not, however, send you any unsolicited marketing or spam and will take all reasonable steps to ensure that we fully protect your rights.

We may also advise you of relevant news and neurodiversity updates, events and other information, products or services of ours that we think may be of interest to you. You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time. You may also object to the processing of your personal data for this purpose by contacting admin@ioneurodiversity.org

We may store and retain your personal data in order to carry out any of the uses specified above, normally for a period of 10 years. It should be noted that electronic copies of information are treated as original documentation. 

Sharing your personal data

Your personal data may be shared with or accessed by:

• • officers, representatives and directors of ION globally;
  • organisations or agencies that we use to assist us in the application and management of your membership and our services;
  • government bodies, regulatory authorities and law enforcement agencies where legally required to do so;
  • third parties who provide services to us which require the processing of personal data;
  • suppliers and agents who administer and maintain, amongst other activities, our website; and
  • any successor to the activities of this organisation.

In some cases your personal data may be transferred to countries outside Switzerland as ION is a global membership organisation.

We will ordinarily process your data throughout the course of our interactions and will then generally retain it for an appropriate amount of time thereafter. In determining the appropriate retention period for various types of personal data, in addition to ensuring that we comply with our legal, regulatory and risk management obligations, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we need to process your personal data data relating to your activity on our website. 

Under 18

The products and services provided by the Institute of Neurodiversity are intended for individuals over the age of 18. If you are aged 18 or under, please obtain your parent/guardian’s permission before you provide us with personal information. We do not accept membership of ION for individuals under 18 years of age. 

Use of cookies

A cookie is a small piece of information sent by a web server to a web browser, which enables the server to collect information from the browser.

We use cookies to help improve this website in a variety of different ways. Any information automatically retrieved from visitors to our website, such as site browsing patterns, will only be used in aggregate form (so that no individual users are identified).

Please refer to the ION Cookie Policy for more information. 

Other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites which are outside our control and are not covered by this privacy policy. If you access other sites using the links provided, the operators of these sites may collect information from you which will be used by them in accordance with their privacy policy, which may differ from ours. 

Contacting us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy and how it affects you, please contact us by email at admin@IONeurodiversity.org 

Policy Review

This privacy policy was last updated in 24 May 2024. The content of the privacy policy may be reviewed and changed without prior notice. Any changes will be effective immediately upon being posted on our website, unless otherwise stated.