Privacy and Cookies

What this covers

Disability Network Eastern Michigan (“DNEM,” “we,” or “us”) is a Center for Independent Living. This policy covers the information we collect when you visit www.DNEMichigan.org or use our services.

If anything here is unclear, or if you would like this information in another format, contact us and we will help. Requesting an accessible format is itself a right, not a favor.

Information you give us

You share information with us directly when you contact us, sign up for a program or event, subscribe to our newsletter, make a donation, or ask us for services. Depending on what you are doing, this may include:

• Your name and contact details — email address, mailing address, and phone number
• Payment details, if you donate or pay a program fee
• Anything else you choose to tell us in a message or form

Information we collect automatically

When you visit the website, some information is collected on its own. This includes your IP address, which pages you visited, how long you stayed, and what browser and device you used. We use this to see which pages people find useful and where the site is not working well.

Most of this comes from cookies. You can control that — see the Cookie Policy below.

Sensitive information

Some of our forms ask for, or give you the chance to share, information that is more sensitive than a name and email address. Two common examples:

• Accommodation requests. If you ask for an accommodation at an event or program, you are telling us something about your disability. We use that information only to arrange what you asked for.
• Demographic questions. Some registration forms ask about things like race, ethnicity, age, or disability type. We collect this to report to our funders on who we serve, which we are required to do as a Center for Independent Living. Answering is optional, and skipping a demographic question never affects the services you receive.

We use sensitive information only for the purpose you gave it for. We do not sell it, and we do not use it for marketing.

Anything you choose to tell us in a message — including details about your health or situation — is kept with that message and used to respond to you. We would rather you tell us what you need than hold back. But please do not send more than you need to, and if you are already working with our staff, sensitive details are better shared with them directly than through a website form.

Information from other sources

We may receive information about you from services we use, such as website analytics providers and social media platforms — but only where you have allowed those services to share it.

How we use your information

We use the information we collect to:

• Provide the services, programs, and support you have asked for
• Answer your questions and respond to requests for information or referrals
• Register you for events, classes, and programs
• Process donations and send receipts
• Send our newsletter and program updates, if you signed up for them
• Understand how the website is used so we can improve it
• Meet our legal, grant reporting, and accounting obligations

When we share information

We do not sell your personal information.

We share information only in these situations:

• With your permission. For example, when you ask us to refer you to another organization.
• With providers who work on our behalf — such as our website host, email newsletter service, and donation processor. They may only use the information to do that work for us.
• When the law requires it, or to protect the safety of a person or the organization.

How long we keep it

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purpose it was collected, or as long as the law, our funders, or our accountants require. In practice, website information is kept for two years. When we no longer need it, we securely delete it or strip out anything that identifies you.

If you gave us permission to contact you and you later withdraw it, we stop using your information for that purpose.

How we protect it

We use reasonable security measures to guard against unauthorized access, loss, or disclosure of your information. No website or internet connection can be guaranteed completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security — but we take the responsibility seriously.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to see the information we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or limit how we use it. See Your Privacy Rights for what those rights are and how to use them.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We update this policy from time to time. The “last updated” date at the top of the page shows when it last changed.

Contact us about privacy