How to disclose on Tinder … maybe a full-body profile picture? Is a wheelchair emoji in the bio too cliche? Maybe just mention it after matching? For people with physical disabilities, dating can be a barrage of stigma and questions about what their bodies can and cannot do. And no, an arranged date with another physically disabled person — usually with no regard for compatibility — is not ideal either.
On this edition of the Embodied series, host Anita Rao looks at ways to de-stigmatize dating as well as what able-bodied people can learn about consent and communication from the disabilities community. D’Arcee Charington, Julie-Ann Scott-Pollock and Ariella Barker join Rao and share their experiences with romance.
All of us who live long enough will learn to experience what it's like to live in a disabled body. - Julie-Ann Scott-Pollock
Charington is an advocate originally from Cary and a doctoral candidate in English at the Ohio State University. Scott-Pollock is a professor in communication studies at UNC-Wilmington as well as the director of UNCW Performance Studies. Barkeris an attorney for the City of New York and was crowned Ms. Wheelchair NC in 2014.