Valentines Day Call for Stories

Top of Image is of cut out paper hearts of different sizes on a clothes pins on a string
Text reads: Valentines Day is On the Way
We want to hear your best and worst dating stories! Send us a video, email, or tag us on social media with the good, the bad, and the ugly in your dating life. #ThinkEquitable
The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality

Valentines Day is On the Way

The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality is  looking for stories that intersect with dating and disability and hope you will share yours. We want to hear the good/bad/funny/sad stories pertaining to dating as a person with a disability or as someone who has dated a person with a disability. We will be compiling the stories to be shared on our website and social media accounts (www.ThinkEquitable.com and #ThinkEquitable). If interested, please submit your information here.

Please note the selection of stories will be selected at the discretion of our team. Thus, not all stories will be published. Stories not published by the end of the month will be discarded. Consent is important to us, so if you wish for us to keep your story anonymous, just let us know. Any names or identifying information given will be changed before publicly sharing. Please avoid any stories pertaining to or suggesting violence and/or sexual assault . If we receive any stories pertaining to these topics, we will not post them*. 

If you have any questions, please reach out to Leah Smith @ Leah.Smith@cchmc.org

To Disclose or Not to Disclose. by Chris Mason-Hale, BSW

Update: This blog was featured on NPR’s “On The Record” Podcast. Listen to it here

Disclosing Disability Disclaimer: The writer of this blog identifies as a quadriplegic operating a manual wheelchair. The contents of this blog are an opinion of the writer based on their lived experience and several years as a peer mentor for people with disabilities and not meant to omit the experiences of other people with disabilities.

Online dating has made romance – or at least meeting people – more accessible than ever. Dating sites give people with disabilities a platform to maybe find that “someone special.” Many people form meaningful relationships–some local and some long distance. For those with disabilities, dating apps can be a remedy for the isolation brought on by barriers, such as limited transportation options and the COVID-19 pandemic, which have made it difficult to meet new people. It also provides an opportunity to disclose your disability on your terms. However, whether you’re swiping left, being left on read without a response, or swimming in dating matches, online dating is a heart-pounding experience…just not always in a good way. For those with disabilities, the worry that their disability will be too much for a potential partner is often very real. Which begs the question, “To disclose or not to disclose?”–But is that the right question?

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