Privacy Policy

The Ability Foundation is an advocacy, casework, policy-development and research organization being established in Antigua and Barbuda to support persons living with disabilities, their families and caregivers.

This policy explains what personal information we may collect, why, who can see it, and the choices and rights you have. It does not claim that the Foundation has any particular legal status beyond what is separately confirmed.

• Ability Account information: name, preferred name, email, telephone, date of birth, address and parish, and your sign-in details (your password is never visible to staff).
• Ability Support Profile information: accessibility preferences, emergency contact, and the details you choose to give about your circumstances and support needs.
• Ability Needs Index information: your answers to the needs questions and the summaries, priorities and support-gap indicators calculated from them. The Index is a planning aid, not a medical diagnosis.
• Advocacy case information: what you tell us about a problem, supporting details, updates, actions taken and outcomes.
• Representative relationships: who you have invited to act with you, the permissions you gave, and when they were given or withdrawn.
• Contact information: messages sent through public forms such as Contact, Get Help or Become a Partner.
• Communication preferences: how and when you would like to be contacted.
• Consent records: what you agreed to, when, and any later change.
• Administrative and security logs: records of sign-ins, changes and staff access that help us protect accounts and show who did what.

If you apply for assistance through an Ability Support Fund program, or someone you have authorized applies with you, the Foundation may process:

• your support application and the reasons you give for needing help
• financial circumstances you supply, such as your own income, regular costs and existing support
• disability-related expenses
• the assistance you request
• program eligibility information
• funding decisions and the reasons given for them
• award information, including approved amounts, items or services
• assistance outcomes, including whether support was delivered
• funding-source references, where relevant to an award
• consents that apply only to that application, such as whether a limited Ability Support Summary may be shared with reviewers

Financial circumstances are sensitive service information. They are used only for legitimate support-program administration, review, verification, decision-making, audit and reporting purposes.

• They are not publicly disclosed.
• They are not automatically used for research.
• They are not automatically shared with partner organizations or funders. Where reporting is needed it uses summary information that does not identify you, unless you separately agree otherwise.
• Household income is not automatically treated as a proxy for your disability-related needs, and another adult's income is not collected as an eligibility requirement.
• Reviewers see only the applications assigned to them, and staff who have a personal involvement with an application do not handle it.

Payments are not processed through this website. Records of awards and outcomes are administrative records only. See also the Data Protection & Confidentiality Policy.

If you apply for medical care, medication, mobility equipment, assistive technology, equipment repair, home accessibility or supplies support, or someone you have authorized applies with you, the Foundation may process:

• your medical-support application and the reasons you give for needing the support
• medication information and prescriptions, where a medication request needs them
• professional recommendations, such as from a clinician, therapist, pharmacist or equipment specialist
• equipment assessments and accessibility assessments
• vendor and provider quotations and related invoices or receipts
• a record of supporting documents requested or held (documents are not uploaded to this website)
• equipment assignment, loan, delivery, fitting, training, warranty, maintenance and repair records
• your confirmation that you received support, and any problem you report
• medical and equipment outcomes, recorded as you report them

Medical and disability information is sensitive. The Foundation does not diagnose, prescribe medication or recommend treatment.

• Access is restricted to you, a representative you have specifically authorized for support applications, and the staff assigned or authorized to administer the application.
• Information is used to administer the support you asked for: review, verification, fulfilment, follow-up, audit and reporting.
• Service information is not automatically research information.
• Information is not automatically shared with sponsors. Sponsors do not receive member medical records, quotations or identities.
• Receiving assistance never requires a photograph, a testimonial, appearing in marketing or publicly disclosing a disability. Any story or marketing consent is separate and optional.
• The Foundation does not claim HIPAA compliance or any other external certification for this information.

• Service delivery and responding to your requests
• Advocacy on your behalf, where you ask us to
• Case management and keeping you informed
• Accessibility, so that we communicate with you in ways that work for you
• Support planning
• Administration of the platform and the Foundation
• Safety, including protecting members and preventing misuse
• Support Fund administration: reviewing applications, verifying information, making and recording funding decisions, audit and reporting
• Research, only where it is separately governed and you have been asked and have agreed

• Service data is not automatically research data. Information you give to receive a service is not used for research unless a separate, appropriately authorized research process applies and you have agreed.
• Research participation is optional. Saying no does not affect the service you receive.
• Marketing consent is optional. You can receive services without agreeing to marketing messages.
• Registering does not authorize public disclosure. Signing up with the Foundation does not allow us to make public your disability, health information or personal circumstances.

We aim to ask only for what we need for the purpose in front of you. Optional questions are marked as optional. Please do not send us information, such as detailed medical records, that we have not asked for.

Access to information depends on a person's role and need. Members see their own records. Staff and administrators see only what their role requires, and access to sensitive records is checked on our servers, not only in what the screen shows.

A Foundation caseworker can see information about a case only when the case has been assigned to them. Caseworkers cannot handle a case in which they are the member or the person who submitted it.

Administrators manage the platform, staff access and oversight of casework, and may view member and case records where this is necessary for those duties. Administrator access is limited to named accounts and is intended for administration and oversight only.

You decide whether anyone may act with you. A representative sees only the areas you permit, and you can change or withdraw permissions at any time from your account under Representatives. Withdrawing a permission ends that access.

If a case needs us to contact or share information with another organization, such as a ministry, utility or service provider, we will ask for your authorization for that case and that purpose. Authorization for one case is not authorization for others.

You can update most of your details yourself in My Profile. If something cannot be changed there, contact us and we will review your request.

You can ask to close your Ability Account from your account settings. Some records, such as audit logs and records of cases already handled, may need to be kept for a period for accountability and protection, as described under Retention.

The Foundation has not yet formally adopted fixed retention periods. Until it does, we aim to keep personal information only as long as it is needed for the purposes described here, and to review what we hold regularly. When periods are adopted, this page will be updated.

We use access controls, server-side permission checks and activity logs to protect information. No online system is risk-free, so please keep your password private and sign out on shared devices. See our Data Protection & Confidentiality Policy.

• Ask what information we hold about you
• Ask us to correct information that is wrong
• Change your consents and communication preferences
• Withdraw representative permissions
• Ask to close your account
• Raise a concern or complaint through our Complaints & Appeals Policy

For privacy questions, use our Contact page and choose a suitable topic. Please do not include sensitive details in your first message. Signed-in members can also manage consents under Consent & Privacy.