Privacy Policy

Last updated: 3 November 2026

What About Autism is a documentary and storytelling project run by Tim Brand on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia. This policy explains what personal information we collect through whataboutautism.com, why, and what we do with it. We’ve written it in plain English. If anything isn’t clear, email tim@whataboutautism.com.

The short version: we only collect what you choose to send us. We use it to reply to you and, if you ask us to, to talk with you about sharing your story. We will never sell your information, and we will never publish your story, your name or anything about your family without your clear, separate permission.

What we collect

What you send us. If you use our contact or story form, or email us, we collect what you give us. That may include your name, email address, the region you live in, your message, and any links you share.
Sensitive information. If you tell us your story, you might share health or disability information about yourself or a family member, including a child. We treat this as sensitive. We only collect it because you’ve chosen to send it, and we only use it for the reason you sent it.
Information about children. If a story is about someone under 18, we ask that it comes from their parent or guardian, and we will talk with that parent or guardian before anything else happens.
Technical information. Like most websites, our site and its security and caching tools record basic technical details such as IP addresses, browser type and pages visited. This helps keep the site secure and working.

How we use it

To reply to your message.
To talk with you about your story, an interview, A Day Without Words, a collaboration, a media request or whatever you’ve contacted us about.
To send you updates, but only if you’ve asked to receive them. You can unsubscribe at any time.
To keep the website secure and working properly.

We don’t use your information for advertising, we don’t build profiles of you, and we don’t sell, rent or trade it to anyone.

Email updates

If you sign up for email updates, or tick “Keep me posted” on one of our forms, we keep your email address (and your name, if you give it) on our mailing list. We only use it to send What About Autism updates: new films, news about A Day Without Words, and the occasional behind-the-scenes note. We never sell or swap our list.

Every email has an unsubscribe link, and you can leave the list at any time. You can also email us and we’ll remove you.

Our mailing list is stored and sent by Mailchimp, which is run by Intuit in the United States, so your email address is held overseas under Mailchimp’s own privacy and security terms. Mailchimp may record whether an email was opened or a link clicked, which helps us see what’s useful.

Sending us your story through the website does not give us permission to publish it. If we’d like to feature your story in a video, article or documentary, we’ll contact you first, explain exactly how it would be used, and ask for your written consent. You can choose to be named, use your first name only, or stay anonymous. You can change your mind before anything is published.

We don’t share your personal information with anyone except:

the service providers that run this website and our email, such as our web host, only so they can provide that service;
Mailchimp, which holds our mailing list and sends our emails, if you’ve signed up for updates;
anyone you’ve asked us to share it with; or
where the law requires it, or where we believe someone’s safety is at serious risk.

Third-party content on this site

Some pages include content from other services, such as YouTube and Spotify players, our Facebook and Instagram feeds, Patreon links, and web fonts from Adobe Fonts and jsDelivr. When you view that content, those services may collect information about your visit under their own privacy policies. Some of them store data outside Australia, including in the United States. We use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced (no-cookie) mode for our videos where we can.

How we store and protect it

Messages sent through our forms are stored in the website’s secure database and delivered to our email inbox. We use security software, keep the site updated, and limit access to Tim. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access.

We keep messages only as long as we need them. Enquiries are deleted after two years unless we’re still working with you. If you’d like yours deleted sooner, just ask.

Your rights

You can ask to see the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email tim@whataboutautism.com and we’ll respond within 30 days.

Complaints

If you’re worried about how we’ve handled your information, please contact us first so we can try to fix it. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.