New App Dateability Helps Make Dating Accessible

Dateability is the latest new dating app to launch and is designed specifically for helping disabled singles connect.

The app was founded by two sisters, Jacqueline and Alexa Child, inspired by Jacqueline’s challenging time on traditional dating apps. According to the Washington Post, she recalled messaging a match she made on a popular dating app to meet for dinner or drinks (nothing strenuous) due to her connective tissue disorder, and he responded: “well, I hope you’re not planning to have children. You shouldn’t pass that on.”

He wasn’t alone in that type of abuse, according to Jacqueline. Dating apps were fraught with people who didn’t understand her disability, or worse, were hostile towards her. She had a hard time processing these conversations, and even talking with her friends and family about her dating experiences but wanted something to change.

Working with her sister Alexa, a Georgetown law graduate, they came up with the idea of a dating app that would center around disabled people and create a more welcoming space for people to enter the dating pool, and Dateability was born.

Its tagline is: “making love accessible,” and the app launches at the end of October, and will be available to users across the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Dateability Screenshots

“The bottom line is disabled people have sex, and they are worthy of sex and relationships,” Jacqueline Child told The Washington Post in an interview. “And I think a lot of people forget about that or don’t want to think about that. But it’s a really important conversation.”

The sisters live and work together and describe each other as best friends. Alexa was angry on behalf of her sister as she witnessed the ableist attitudes she encountered on dating apps. After a surgery that left Jacqueline on a feeding tube and unable to go on dinner dates, the two decided to create a new platform. They decided to leave the app open for everyone, so nobody had to disclose medical information, but they offer users an easy way to report abuse and also provide tips on how to stay safe.

The sisters and business partners have different skill sets, which has been good for developing the app. “Even though we are so similar, in a lot of ways we are also so different, and we complement each other very well,” Alexa told the Washington Post. “Jacqueline is good at marketing and graphic design and being creative. I bring in the legal aspect and business mind.”

For more on this dating service you can check out the Dateability website.