Terms of Use

You are subject to both ASHA’s general website Terms of Use and these Community Terms of Use. To the extent there is a conflict between the general website and Community terms of use, the Community Terms of Use shall govern relating to any submission you make on this Community forum. By accessing or using the ASHA Community in any manner, you agree to adhere to, and be legally bound by, the following terms:

1. Agreement Between American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association and User

This is a binding agreement ("Agreement") between the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association ("ASHA") and you, the user ("You" or "Your"). The ASHA Community is offered to You conditioned on Your acceptance, without modification, of the terms, conditions, and notices contained herein. By using the ASHA Community, You confirm Your acceptance of, and agree to be bound by, this Agreement and all such terms, conditions and notices.

2. Usage of ASHA Community

You agree that when using the ASHA Community, You will not:

  1. Violate any applicable laws or regulations; 
  2. Send any information that may violate antitrust law, including without limitation past, current, or future fees; fee discounts provided; terms of credit; price and pricing information; inventories; commission information; profit information, including what is a reasonable or fair profit margin; 
  3. Send information that contains material protected by intellectual property laws, including without limitation material protected by patent, copyright, trademark, or trade secrets, or by rights of privacy or publicity unless You own or control the rights thereto or have received all necessary consents;
  4. Disclose protected health information of clients (see Community Guidelines);
  5. Send, publish, post, upload, distribute or disseminate any inappropriate, threatening, abusive, profane, defamatory, infringing, misleading, obscene, indecent, or otherwise objectionable materials, or any materials which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or violates any law, or contains any advertising or any solicitation with respect to products or services. 
  6. Harass, abuse, threaten or otherwise violate any legal rights of others; 
  7. Attack, ridicule, denounce, impugn a person's character, or impute immoral or dishonorable attributes to another person on the basis of dimensions of diversity including but not limited to age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status; 
  8. Upload viruses, corrupted files or any other software or information that may damage the operation of another's computer or network; 
  9. Use the ASHA Community for commercial purposes, including, but not limited to, advertisements, promotions, job announcements/listings, offers to buy or sell goods or services, surveys, contests, pyramid schemes, or sponsorship banners; 
  10. Post, share, promote, upload or distribute information on a petition;
  11. Spam other members by generating bulk communications, direct mail, or e-blasts;
  12. Use the ASHA Community to forward chain letters; 
  13. Endorse any candidates running for an ASHA Board of Directors or Advisory Council elected position. Please refer to ASHA's Election Practices.
  14. Reproduce, re-transmit or re-present in any form, in whole or in part, any content, programming code, images or graphics without express written permission of ASHA; 
  15. Frame, squeeze back, overlay or employ other techniques to enclose or display the ASHA Community, or any trademark, logo, content or other proprietary information (including images, text, page layout, or form) included on the ASHA Community, with any other software or content of a third party; 
  16. Use any meta tags or any other "hidden text" utilizing the names or trademarks of ASHA without its written consent; 
  17. Without limiting the generality of the other restrictions set forth herein, access, monitor or copy any content or information of this Web Site using any "robot", "spider", "deep link", "scraper" or other automated means, methodology, algorithm or device or any manual process for any purpose; and 
  18. Violate any of ASHA policies, guidelines or other codes of conduct. 

3. Monitoring and Removal of Content

ASHA has no obligation to screen or monitor the ASHA Community; however, ASHA reserves the right to review information or materials posted to the ASHA Community and to any other forms of information available to us by virtue of Your use of the ASHA Community (including, for example, reverse IP address inquiry). ASHA reserves the right at all times, in its sole discretion, to refuse to post, delete, move, edit or remove any information or materials from the ASHA Community, regardless of whether such material does or does not violate this Agreement or any of ASHA's policies, guidelines, or other codes of conduct which are applicable to the ASHA Community.

The sender of any communications though the ASHA Community shall be solely responsible for the content and information contained therein, including its truthfulness and accuracy. By posting, sending, distributing or disseminating content through the ASHA Community, You represent and warrant that You either own or otherwise control all rights necessary for You to provide, post, upload or submit that content. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, You shall be solely liable for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyrights, or other proprietary rights, or any other harm resulting from any content or other material submitted by You to or through the ASHA Community and agree that You will indemnify and hold ASHA harmless from and against any claims, damages or losses related to such content or other materials.

ASHA reserves the right to deny access to the ASHA Community to anyone who violates this Agreement or who, in ASHA's judgment, interferes with the ability of others to enjoy the ASHA Community or infringes the rights of others. ASHA will comply with the requirements of the law regarding disclosure of any messages to others, including law enforcement agencies.

Use of the ASHA Community by You for spamming or any purpose other than the purpose for which the data was provided by the sender is strictly prohibited. By using the ASHA Community, You agree not to use information concerning other users of the ASHA Community, or any items such users have posted, disseminated or distributed on or through (including listing information, user names, email addresses, telephone numbers, and/or other information), for any purpose except as specifically set forth in this Agreement. You may not post information directed to or collect personal information from any minor.

4. Ownership; License

The ASHA Community and all content displayed on or through the ASHA Community and all software, data and information used to provide the ASHA Community, including text and images, method of display and presentation, source code, embedded routines and programs and other materials, as well as all copyrights, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights therein or thereto, are owned by ASHA, its affiliates or licensees, and are protected under worldwide copyright, trademark and other applicable laws and treaties. ASHA grants You the limited and nonexclusive right and license to access or download content from the ASHA Community solely for Your personal and non-commercial use. Except as expressly authorized in this Agreement, You may not modify, distribute, reproduce, display, or use the ASHA Community or any elements thereof. All rights not expressly granted to You by ASHA in this Agreement are reserved to ASHA and You acknowledge that You do not acquire any ownership rights by accessing or downloading copyrighted material from the ASHA Community as authorized hereunder.

5. Posted Materials

You may have the opportunity to post or otherwise submit information, concepts, inventions, techniques, know-how, data or ideas (collectively, "Ideas") to us on or through the ASHA Community. By submitting communications, materials or Ideas to or through the ASHA Community, You grant ASHA its parent and affiliates the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, aggregate, translate, publicly display, publicly perform and distribute such material and Ideas (in whole or in part) alone or as incorporated into other works in any form, media or technology now or hereafter known on a worldwide basis. You also permit any other user of this Web Site to access, view, store or reproduce the material or Ideas for that user's personal use. Such purposes may include disclosure to third parties and/or developing, manufacturing, commercializing and/or marketing goods or services based on such Ideas or materials. By posting or disclosing such information, you hereby waive any claim that ASHA misappropriated any such Ideas, materials or any portions of your communication in any activities in which ASHA may engage in the future.

6. Privacy Policy

Because your privacy is important to You and to ASHA, ASHA will operate the ASHA Community in accordance with its Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into this Agreement by this reference and which may be viewed by following this link to the Privacy Policy. BY CONSENTING TO THIS AGREEMENT, YOU CONSENT TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY.

7. Disclaimer

ASHA does not control or endorse the content, messages or information found in any of the ASHA Community. ASHA does not endorse or otherwise verify the accuracy, truthfulness or reliability of any information provided on the ASHA Community unless it is provided by an authorized ASHA spokesperson. Any statements made on the ASHA Community reflect only the views of their authors, and your reliance on any such content is at your own risk. The ASHA Community will be managed or hosted by either employees or members of ASHA, who are not authorized ASHA spokespersons, and their views or actions in managing or hosting the ASHA Community do not necessarily reflect those of ASHA.

The ASHA Community and all information, products or services available through the ASHA Community are provided by ASHA on an "as is" basis without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Neither ASHA, its affiliates nor any of their respective employees, agents, third party content providers or licensors warrant that the ASHA Community will be uninterrupted or error free; nor do they make any warranty as to the results that may be obtained from use of the ASHA Community, or as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of content or any information, service, or merchandise provided through the ASHA Community. Before purchasing goods or services you have read about on or through the ASHA Community, You should confirm with the vendor any information (including the price) that is important to your purchasing decision. ASHA is not responsible for, and does not guarantee the performance of, any such goods or services, nor the accuracy or validity of the information provided and expressly disclaims any and all liability relating to the manufacture, sale or use of products and services discussed or illustrated in or through the ASHA Community.

WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, NEITHER ASHA, ITS AFFILIATES NOR ITS LICENSORS OR PROVIDERS SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, INACCURACIES, OMISSIONS, OR OTHER DEFECTS IN THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THE ASHA COMMUNITY, OR ANY LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE ASHA COMMUNITY. ASHA, ITS AFFILIATES AND LICENSORS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED BY STATUTE OF OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL ASHA, ITS AFFILIATES OR ITS LICENSORS OR PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER ARISING OUT OF ACCESS TO OR THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE ASHA COMMUNITY, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, RESULTING FROM LOST PROFITS OR DATA, WHETHER IN AN ACTION FOR CONTRACT OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE AND STRICT LIABILITY), EVEN IF ASHA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

You agree that the entire liability of ASHA, its affiliates, licensors, and providers, if any, arising out of any kind of legal claim arising out of or otherwise related to the ASHA Community will not exceed the amount You paid, if any, for the use of the ASHA Community. Because some states/jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, some of these limitations may not apply to you.

We provide the ASHA Community and the material available through the ASHA Community for informational purposes only. You may only use the material and the services available through the ASHA Community for your personal and non-commercial use. Before You act on any information you've found on the ASHA Community, You should independently confirm any facts that are important to your decision.

IF YOU RELY ON ANY INFORMATION OR SERVICE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE ASHA COMMUNITY, YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT YOU DO SO SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE OR LOSS YOU MAY INCUR THAT RESULTS FROM YOUR USE OF ANY SERVICE OR ANY MATERIAL AND/OR DATA DOWNLOADED FROM OR OTHERWISE PROVIDED THROUGH THE ASHA COMMUNITY.

8. Miscellaneous

ASHA reserves the right to change the terms, conditions and notices under which the ASHA Community is offered. You are responsible for regularly reviewing these terms and conditions. Your non-termination or continued use of the ASHA Community after changes are posted constitutes Your acceptance of this agreement as modified by the posted changes.

This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, USA. You hereby consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts in Montgomery County, Maryland, in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of the ASHA Community. Use of the ASHA Community is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these terms and conditions, including without limitation this paragraph. You agree that no joint venture, partnership, employment, or agency relationship exists between you and ASHA as a result of this agreement or use of the ASHA Community.

You agree that all notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to You electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.

You shall use the ASHA Community for lawful purposes only. Any conduct by You that in our judgment and discretion restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying our Web Site will not be permitted.

You agree that we may, in our sole discretion and without prior notice, terminate Your access to the ASHA Community, which includes any discontinuance or material modification of the ASHA Community or any service offered on or through the ASHA Community, or due to any unexpected technical issues or problems. ASHA reserves the right to deny access to the site at its own discretion. You agree that ASHA will not be liable to You or to any third party for termination of Your access to the ASHA Community as a result of any violation of these Terms of Use.