I’m Jerusha, a passionate disability advocate who lives with cerebral palsy. My journey of finding love has taken unusual turns. I have had many challenging moments with people misunderstanding and judging me at face value because I move and speak differently.

People with disabilities (PWD) are often discriminated against by other users on dating platforms, and not seen as potential partners. I’m calling on Tinder, Bumble, e-Harmony to take steps to increase visibility of PWD using their apps and educate their users to be more open and inclusive.

Just like the next person, I too am looking for a romantic partner and want to be in love. People with disabilities have the potential to become great partners. We bring love, care and passion to our relationships just like anyone else. We want to be lovers, parents and experience fulfilling relationships. 

Educating people on what it truly means to be disabled can be crucial in reducing the bias against PWD, and changing people’s attitudes. More than four million Australians live with a disability. It’s time to normalize able-bodied and disabled people being in relationships. 

Recent research has found that PWD have similar wants when it comes to dating yet support, inclusivity and lack of equal opportunities were the main preventers in them having meaningful dating experiences. Research has also indicated more needs to be done in the dating sector for inclusion of PWD and that's where dating platforms can help.

I’m calling on Tinder, Bumble and e-Harmony to help create a safe space for people with disabilities using their platforms: include PWD in your advertisements, educate your users about inclusive behaviors when dating PWD. Provide personal support for people with disabilities who may need extra support in finding love through mentoring and specialist coaching staff.  

If you’re someone who uses dating apps or websites, there’s a lot you can do to be inclusive of people with disabilities looking for a partner: Do not infantilize us and look upon us with sadness, we do not need your sympathy. Treat us as you would treat any other person, with respect and dignity. Turn up to the date, with the intent to get to know us. Do not use negative words such as suffering, problem, vulnerability, and weakness to describe disability, a person’s disability should not be the central focus or be made a big deal of.

I hope you can join me in my endeavour to create a safe environment for everyone who wants to find love. Please sign and share this petition with everyone you know.

If you are from a dating agency, I would love to talk more about how your company can improve in terms of accessibility and inclusion. Please email me at: jerushamather1@gmail.com