About this policy
This policy provides information about the way in which The Professional Association of Assistive Technologists (PAAT) uses, shares and stores information. It includes details of what we collect, what we do with the information, who we may share it with and why, and your rights in regard to the personal information you have given us.
We reserve the right to make changes to our Privacy Policy from time to time. Important changes will be updated on our website and members will be notified.
Who we are
The Professional Association of Assistive Technologists (PAAT) is a membership body for individuals working in the role of Assistive Technologist. Our overarching aim is to improve Assistive Technology (AT) as a discipline, resulting in improved quality, standards, opportunities and impact for AT users, AT practitioners and leaders in the field.
PAAT is a Community Interest Company registered in England and Wales. Our company number is 16756875. Our registered office is Clamarpen, 17 Napier Court, Barlborough, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, S43 4PZ. You can email us at info@pa-at.org.
Information we collect and use
We collect the names, job titles, addresses and email/telephone contact details of individuals who are members of PAAT, or who have applied to become members.
We collect information from a variety of sources including from our website, from phone contact you might have with us, from social media contact with us, and from emails and letters sent to us. The sections below detail what we do with the information from each of these sources.
We also collect information from places such as business directories and other publicly available sources, for example to check or improve the information we hold, such as email or postal addresses.
We take your privacy seriously and we will only ever collect and use information which is personal to you where it is necessary, fair, and lawful to do so. We will collect and use your information only where:
- You have given your permission/consent for us to send you information.
- It is necessary to provide the service you have requested.
- It is necessary for us to fulfil a contractual obligation with you.
- It is necessary for us to meet our legal obligations.
- It is in our legitimate interest and where there is minimal privacy impact e.g. contacting our members to improve user experience or develop new products and services.
- Information will be retained as long as it is relevant and the legal basis to do so is applicable.
Visitors to our website/blogs and use of cookies
Our website is hosted by Krystal on a server in East London. Our website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookies are small files that store small pieces of information – for example, they will remember you’ve visited our website or performed a certain action, or a cookie might store information, so you don’t have to keep entering it. For details of the specific cookies we use, please see our Cookie Notice."
Collection via forms
We collect data using forms on our website and via Microsoft Forms. We hold the details of people who have used these forms in order to provide the service requested and for other closely related purposes. For example, we might carry out a post-event evaluation survey in order to improve our services. When people subscribe to mailing lists or services, they can cancel their subscription at any time by contacting info@pa-at.org.uk.
Image / video usage
PAAT may sometimes take photographs at events for use on their website, social media or printed materials. Images and videos are stored on webserver or cloud storage. If an image or video is no longer required, it will be deleted.
You reserve the right to access any images of you that we hold, and request that we delete them, subject to you providing sufficient information for us to be able to locate the image(s). If there is an image of you on our online collateral, we can remove these upon request. Any images currently in print will be removed once printed collateral is replaced.
People and organisations who apply or are members
We collect the names, email addresses, postal addresses, and job titles of individuals who are members of PAAT, have applied to become a member, or who have requested information from PAAT. We use this information to provide the service that you have requested, and to make you aware of other similar services that are available.
If you make a payment to PAAT, we collect your billing information including name, email address and financial information corresponding to your selected method of payment (e.g., a credit or debit card number and expiration date).
Please see the ‘Access to personal information’ section for details on how you can request deletion of data we hold.
PAAT is the data controller for information you provide during the process of applying to become a member or remaining a member. All the information you provide will only be used for the purpose of progressing your application, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements where necessary.
We will not share any of the information you provide during the application process with any third parties for marketing purposes, or store any of your information outside of the European Economic Area. The information you provide will be held securely by us whether the information is in electronic or physical format. We will use the contact details you provide to us to contact you to progress your application. We will use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for membership.
PAAT will hold the data of former members for 2 years after their membership has lapsed. This information will only be accessible by the PAAT Directors unless it needs to be shared as part of any legal action. All information will be deleted after this time period has passed.
Access to personal information
You have the right to be informed about what personal information we have, why we have it and who we share it with. You also have the right of access to this information and the right to request that we make any changes if your personal information is inaccurate or incomplete. You can ask for your information to be deleted or removed from one of our systems. You can ask that we block or suppress the processing of your personal information for certain reasons. This means that we are still permitted to keep your information – but that we agree not to use it in the future for those reasons you have restricted.
Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a request in writing to info@pa-at.org. You can also email us at this address if you believe any of the information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete.
If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over email.
We will respond to any requests within the statutory time limit.
Your legal rights
PAAT would like to make sure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. You are entitled to the following:
- The right to be informed – organisations need to tell individuals what data is being collected, how it’s being used, how long it will be kept and whether it will be shared with any third parties. This information must be communicated concisely and in plain language.
- The right to access – individuals can submit subject access requests, which oblige organisations to provide a copy of any personal data they hold concerning the individual.
- The right to rectification – if an individual discovers that the information an organisation holds on them is inaccurate or incomplete, they can request that it be updated.
- The right to erasure – individuals have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions – for example, when the data is no longer necessary, or it no longer meets the lawful ground(s) for which it was collected.
- The right to restrict processing – individuals have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
- The right to object to processing – individuals have the right to object to the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.
- The right to data portability – individuals are permitted to obtain and reuse their personal data for their own purposes across different services. This right only applies to personal data that an individual has provided to data controllers by way of a contract or consent.
- The right to object and the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing – individuals have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated means.
If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you. Exceptions apply for requests that are manifestly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive. If you would like to exercise any of the above rights, please email PAAT at info@pa-at.org.
Complaints or queries
PAAT strives to meet high standards when collecting and using personal information and we take any complaints seriously. Please contact us if you think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading, or inappropriate.
We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures. You can contact us with questions, comments, complaints, or suggestions regarding our process or how we handle your information: email PAAT at info@pa-at.org.uk.