Membership terms of use (including forum discussion rules)

Registration

Autism Early Support Trust Limited (“AES”) provides a subscription service via autismearlysupport.org.uk (the “Website”/ “site”) that allows our members to access content (“Parent’s Portal content”) through the internet via the use of a computers and other devices.  We are registered in England and Wales under company number 07553552 and have our registered office at The Old School, Middle Claydon, Bucks, MK18 2ET.

These Terms of Use govern your use of this Website and membership service. As used in these Terms of Use, “Parent’s Portal”, “our service” or “the service” means the content provided by AES for accessing support, training, and other  content, including all features and functionalities, recommendations and reviews, our websites, and user interfaces, as well as all content and software associated with our service. References to ‘you’ in these Terms of Use indicate the member who created the AES Parent’s Portal  account and whose payment method is charged.

Contributing to this web portal requires registration onto the Autism Early Support Portal membership. Certain information is mandatory – such as a name and a valid email address. The personal details which you provide on registration will not be disclosed to third parties other than in exceptional circumstances (eg: the prevention of a serious crime).

By using our site you accept these terms

By using our site, you confirm that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to comply with them.

If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our site.

We recommend that you print a copy of these terms for future reference.

There are other terms that may apply to you

These terms of use refer to the following additional terms, which also apply to your use of our site:

•          Our Privacy Policy

Membership

Your AES Parent’s Portal  membership will continue until terminated. To use the AES Parent’s Portal you must have Internet access and provide us with one or more Payment Methods. “Payment Method” means a current, valid, accepted method of payment, as may be updated from time to time, and which may include payment through your account with a third party. Unless you cancel your membership before your billing date, you authorize us to charge the membership fee for the next billing cycle to your Payment Method (see “Cancellation” below).

We may offer a number of membership plans, including memberships offered by third parties in conjunction with the provision of their own products and services. Some membership plans may have differing conditions and limitations, which will be disclosed at your sign-up or in other communications made available to you.

Promotional offers

We may from time to time offer special promotional offers, additional paid for services, plans or memberships (“Offers”). Offer eligibility is determined by AES at its sole discretion and we reserve the right to revoke an Offer and put your account on hold in the event that we determine you are not eligible. Members of households with an existing or recent AES Parent’s Portal membership may not be eligible for certain introductory Offers. We may use information such as device ID, method of payment or an account email address used with an existing or recent membership to determine Offer eligibility. The eligibility requirements and other limitations and conditions will be disclosed when you sign-up for the Offer or in other communications made available to you.

Billing and Cancellation

Billing Cycle – The membership fee for the AES Parent’s Portal  will be charged to your Payment Method on the specific payment date indicated on the “Account” page. The length of your billing cycle will depend on the type of subscription that you choose when you signed up for the service. In some cases your payment date may change, for example if your Payment Method has not successfully settled, when you change your subscription plan or if your paid membership began on a day not contained in a given month. Visit the AES Parent’s Portal.com website and click on the “Billing details” link on the “Account” page to see your next payment date.

Payment Methods – To use the AES Parent’s Portal,  you must provide one or more Payment Methods. You authorize us to charge any Payment Method associated to your account in case your primary Payment Method is declined or no longer available to us for payment of your subscription fee. You remain responsible for any uncollected amounts. If a payment is not successfully settled, due to expiration, insufficient funds, or otherwise, and you do not cancel your account, we may suspend your access to the service until we have successfully charged a valid Payment Method. For some Payment Methods, the issuer may charge you certain fees, such as foreign transaction fees or other fees relating to the processing of your Payment Method. Local tax charges may vary depending on the Payment Method used. Check with your Payment Method service provider for details.

Updating your Payment Methods – You can update your Payment Methods by going to the “Account” page. We may also update your Payment Methods using information provided by the payment service providers. Following any update, you authorize us to continue to charge the applicable Payment Method(s).

Cancellation – You can cancel your membership at any time, and you will continue to have access to the service through the end of your billing period. Payments are non-refundable and we do not provide refunds or credits for any partial membership periods or unused content. To cancel, go to the “Account” page and follow the instructions for cancellation. If you cancel your membership, your account will automatically close at the end of your current billing period. To see when your account will close, click “Billing details” on the “Account” page.

Changes to the Price and Subscription Plans – We may change our subscription plans and the price of our service from time to time; however, any price changes or changes to your subscription plans will apply no earlier than 30 days following notice to you. If you do not wish to accept the price change or change to your subscription plan, you can cancel your subscription before the change takes effect.

AES Parent’s Portal Service

You must be at least 18 years of age to become a member of the AES Parent’s Portal. Minors may only use the service under the supervision of an adult.

The AES Parent’s Portal service and any content accessed through the service are for your personal and non-commercial use only and may not be shared with individuals beyond your household unless otherwise allowed by your subscription plan. During your membership we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access the Parent’s Portal service and content. Except for the foregoing, no right, title or interest shall be transferred to you. You agree not to use the service for public performances.

The AES Parent’s Portal service, including the reading room and video content, is regularly updated.

 
Except as explicitly authorized by us, you agree not to:

(i) archive, reproduce, distribute, modify, display, perform, publish, license, create derivative works from, offer for sale, or use content and information contained on or obtained from or through the AES Parent’s Portal service;

(ii) circumvent, remove, alter, deactivate, degrade, block, obscure or thwart any of the content protections or other elements of the AES Parent’s Portal service, including the graphical user interface, any advertising or advertising features, copyright notices, and trademarks;

(iii) use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the AES Parent’s Portal service;

(iv) decompile, reverse engineer or disassemble any software or other products or processes accessible through the AES Parent’s Portal service;

(v) insert any code or product or manipulate the content of the AES Parent’s Portal service in any way;

(vi) use any data mining, data gathering or extraction method;

(vii) upload, post, e-mail or otherwise send or transmit any material designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment associated with the AES Parent’s Portal service, including any software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs We may terminate or restrict your use of our service if you violate these Terms of Use or are engaged in illegal or fraudulent use of the service.

Passwords and Account Access

Your password is for your personal use only and should be kept confidential. If you allow others to access the account (which includes access to information on viewing activity for the account), you agree that such individuals are acting on your behalf and that you are bound by any changes that they may make to the account, including but not limited to changes to the subscription plan. To help maintain control over the account and to prevent any unauthorized users from accessing the account, you should maintain control over the devices that are used to access the service and not reveal the password or details of the Payment Method associated with the account to anyone. You agree to provide and maintain accurate information relating to your account, including a valid email address so we can send you account related notices. We can terminate your account or place your account on hold in order to protect you, AES Parent’s Portal or our partners from identity theft or other fraudulent activity.

Miscellaneous

Unsolicited Materials – AES Parent’s Portal does not accept unsolicited materials or ideas for AES Parent’s Portal content, and is not responsible for the similarity of any of its content or programming in any media to materials or ideas transmitted to AES Parent’s Portal.

Survival – If any provision or provisions of these Terms of Use shall be held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the validity, legality and enforceability of the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.

Changes to Terms of Use – AES Parent’s Portal may, from time to time, change these Terms of Use. We will notify you at least 30 days before such changes apply to you. If you do not wish to accept the changes, you can cancel your subscription before they take effect.

Electronic Communications – We will send you information relating to your account (e.g. payment authorizations, invoices, changes in password or Payment Method, confirmation messages, notices) in electronic form only, for example via emails to your email address provided during registration.

Forum Moderation

Comments will be moderated at least every working day.

If a comment contravenes any of the full discussion rules it will be deleted from the forum and will be returned to the participant by e-mail, along with a reference to the rule(s) contravened. The participant will be invited to resubmit their comment, after making appropriate changes.

Privacy Policy

Where you provide personal information to Autism Early Support, for example when you participate in a web forum hosted on this site, it will be used only for the services you requested and as specified on the relevant pages of the site. Access to the personal data you provide will be securely controlled and all processing will be undertaken in accordance with, and as permitted by, the requirements of the Data Protection legislation, as stated within the Privacy Policy of Autism Early Support

Links to other websites

Autism Early Support  is not responsible for the content of external websites and links to external sites should not be taken as an endorsement of their content.  We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.

Terms of Acceptable Use:

Online discussion rules

Set out below are the discussion rules for the Autism Early Support web forums,

By posting into any forum discussion, you agree to abide by the discussion rules.

• Comments will either be post- moderated, using the following discussion rules.
• Do not submit comments that contain personal information e.g. home addresses or phone numbers.
• Do not submit comments that are unlawful, harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually orientated or racially offensive.
• Do not swear or use language that could offend other forum participants.
• Do not advertise or promote products or services.
• Do not spam or flood the forum. Only submit a comment once.
• Do not resubmit the same, or similar, comments.
• Keep your comments relevant to the discussion topic.
• Do not submit defamatory comments (comments that are untrue and capable of damaging the reputation of a person or organisation).
• Do not condone illegal activity or incite people to commit any crime, including incitement of racial hatred.
• Do not submit comments that could prejudice on-going or forthcoming court proceedings (contempt of court) or break a court injunction.
• Do not submit comments containing someone else’s copyright material.
• Do not swear or use language that could offend other forum participants.
• Do not otherwise submit comments that are unlawful, harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually orientated or racially offensive. This includes comments that are offensive to others with regards to religion, gender, nationality or other personal characteristic.
• Do not impersonate other forum members or falsely claim to represent a person or organisation.
• Do not submit comments or choose user names that contain personal information that would identify yourself or others. For example last names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses or other online contact details either relating to yourself or other individuals.
• Do not post comments in languages other than English
• Do not advertise or promote products or services.
• Do not spam or flood the forum. Only submit a comment once. Do not resubmit the same, or similar, comments. Keep the number of comments you submit on a topic at a reasonable level. Multiple comments from the same individual, or a small number of individuals, may discourage others from contributing.
• Do not use an inappropriate user name (vulgar, offensive etc.).
• Membership to the forum discussions is solely through our portal membership, and eligibility is for those over 18.

Terms of Acceptable Use cont’d

This website may include information and materials uploaded by other users of the site. This information and these materials have not been verified or approved by us. The views expressed by other users on our site do not represent our views or values.

We request that every new and renewing member read, agree to and abide by our forum rules and terms of service before using the site. Your use of this site signifies your agreement with all of our rules and terms of service.

• Choose an appropriate username.

When you join, choose a username that is appropriate and non-offensive.  This username can be seen by other members. Most members use a nickname, but you can use your real name if you choose. You can change your username at any time.

• Do not share your login details.

Do not give your user name and password to anyone outside your household. Do not use another member’s account to post messages or browse the forum. Dual log ins will cause a 24 hour lockout.

• Please post only under your own username.

Login details may be shared with family in the same household to browse the site, but do not post with someone else’s username or impersonate someone else.

• Keep member profiles and signatures clean and appropriate.

You can fill out a member profile or create forum signatures which appear under your posts. You agree to present clean and accurate information. Any information that is inaccurate, offensive or involving advertising may be removed.

• Please respect our copyrighted materials and intellectual property.

All content and graphics on this site are protected by copyright and international treaties and may not be copied or re-used without express written permission of this site. Some material on this site is available to download for personal use. However, do not reprint, republish, share, distribute or transmit content, images or downloads from this site.

We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.

Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our site must always be acknowledged (except where the content is user-generated).

You must not use any part of the content on our site for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.

If you print off, copy, download, share or repost any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

• Do not post any copyrighted material.

You agree not to post or upload material on the forums unless it is yours, you have consent from the copyright owner or you know the material is public domain.

• Do not copy and paste tables, charts, articles, code or materials from other websites

Please do not copy and paste materials from other websites into the forums, especially entire webpages, tables or charts which may contain HMTL or other code from another website. This is to respect copyrights as well as prevent formatting errors in our forums.

• No advertising, selling or soliciting is allowed.

No advertising, solicitations, trading of goods or services, or other commercial activities are allowed in the forums. No bulk messages, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or repeat postings of the same message are permitted. Do not link out to commercial sites or sales pages.

• Treat other subscribers with courtesy and respect

Online discussion forums are like any other organized gathering of people; there are rules of etiquette everyone is expected to follow. We believe in free expression of a variety of viewpoints and critical discussion of all ideas. Your experience is bound only by a set of common sense rules that ask you to be civil and show respect for others when you are online.

• Do not express disagreements or personal vendettas on the forums.

Do not name people you may have a disagreement with or allow identification of those people by inference. Do not threaten, or harass anyone, directly or by indirectly. Doing so will lead to a warning or being banned from the site. If you have any problems regarding another member or a member of the staff, you are encouraged to privately contact the website owner.

• Do not post offensive comments or material.

You agree not to post anything which is false, vulgar, obscene, sexually-oriented, invading someone’s privacy, or otherwise in violation of ANY law. Do not use ethnic slurs or hate speech. Do not libel or defame others. Do not use any profanity.

• Please report offensive material.

You agree that if you see any texts, photos, videos or other posts that offend you or you think may offend other members, that you will contact the site administrator as soon as possible.

• Inappropriate content will be removed.

We reserve the right to edit or remove objectionable or inappropriate posts. We do not monitor all forum messages in real time or hold them for approval, so objectionable content cannot be removed until it is seen by the administrators. Violators who post objectionable content may receive a warning, or have their memberships terminated.

• Do not share content or link out to any third party unless you are certain it is 100% evidence-based, scientific and factual.

You agree to accept responsibility for all forum posts, messages and content you post or which is posted under your user name. This Website does not assume responsibility for content posted by members. The person posting a message is solely responsible for that message.

• Please note that with each post, your IP address is recorded.

This information may be used in the event a member must be banned from the site or an ISP contacted.

• All content posted in the forums becomes property of this Website.

When you post content in the discussion forums, you permit AES to display and distribute the content, and to use it for advertising and promotion, including in testimonials. You grant to this site the complete, perpetual, but non-exclusive right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, distribute, sub-license, etc. the content in whole or in part, throughout the world, on a royalty-free basis.

• Please know our privacy policies

Posts you make in the forums can be seen by other members, but not by non-members or the public. Search engines may be able to spider and index a forum title and a small amount of text. If you post in the forums, please do so with your need for privacy in mind. You can remain anonymous if you choose and never reveal your full name and identity. You can choose to read only and never make forum posts at all. Please read our complete privacy policy if you have additional questions about privacy: here

• Please know our terms of service

By using this Website, including the member’s only forums, you acknowledge that you understand and agree to all the rules on this page, as well as our privacy policies and legal terms of service.  If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our site. You warrant that any contribution to this Website does comply with the standards set out above, and you will be liable to us and indemnify us for any breach of that warranty. This means you will be responsible for any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of warranty.

We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to our site constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights or of their right to privacy.

Limitation of Liability

This site provides the information, services and products on this Website “as is” without warranties of any kind. You also agree that this site shall not be responsible for any content found on the this site forums and that your use of this site forums and any downloading of materials found on or throughout the this site forums is done at your own risk and that you will be solely responsible for any damages to your computer or data that results.

All express warranties and all implied warranties, including without limitation warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement of proprietary rights are hereby disclaimed to the full extent permitted by law. This site does not warrant that the use of performance of this Website will be timely, uninterrupted or free of error, or that this Website or its server will be free of viruses.

In no event shall this site, its officers, directors, agents and employees be liable for any loss or injury, direct or indirect, incidental, consequential, special or exemplary damages, or any damages whatsoever arising from the use or performance of this Website or from any information, services or products provided through this Website, even if this site has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In the event that applicable law prevents the exclusion of liability for certain warranties, such exclusion does not apply to you to the extent limited by law.

Please note that we only provide our site for domestic and private use. You agree not to use our site for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

The content on our site is provided for general information only. The information on our site is general in nature and is not specified to your specific circumstances. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should specifically rely, but is based upon our own experience and skills. You may wish to obtain alternative professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site alone.

Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our site, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our site is accurate, complete or up to date.

Rights you are giving us to use material you upload

When you upload or post content to our site, you grant us the following rights to use that content:

• a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform that user-generated content in connection with the service provided by the Website and across different media including to promote the site or the service forever;

We are not responsible for viruses and you must not introduce them

We do not guarantee that our site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.

You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform to access our site. You should use your own virus protection software.

You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

Rules about linking to our site

You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.

You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

You must not establish a link to our site in any website that is not owned by you.

Our site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page.

We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

The website in which you are linking must comply in all respects with the content standards set out in our terms stated above. If you wish to link to or make any use of content on our site other than that set out above, please contact portal@autismearlysupport.org.uk

Which country’s laws apply to any disputes?

These terms of use, their subject matter and their formation, are governed by English law. You and we both agree that the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction.

Last Updated: 28^th June  2023