#DisabledAndCute – Empowering People With Disabilities!

There are a lot of things about social media that annoys us here at EnabledLove HQ. We hate the trolls, the bullies and most of all, the spam!! But every so often something happens that makes us think again and realise, for all of it's problems, the internet still has the power to make people smile. And for once, we're not just talking about Online Dating!!

A recent example that's certainly relevant for Enabled Love, the number one dating site for bringing people with disabilities together with potential relationship matches, is the twitter hashtag Disabled and Cute (#DisabledAndCute).

Created by Maria Keah (@Keah_Maria) around Valentine's Day 2017, the initial tweet was presumably just to show her pride in herself and help her stay positive during the peak dating season. What followed after took her by complete surprise – it was nothing short of a 'movement', with individuals effected by all kinds of disabilities posting images of themselves (at their best or their worst) to show that they do were disabled, cute and ultimately, dateable.

What we loved most about the 100s of tweets and pictures was the sense of pride shown; the fact that these disabled people were showing that they are not their disability and their disability does not define them, no matter how much difficultly it brings to their lives. Sure, some will call it 'sympathy porn' and others will question the need for a hashtag at all as being something that belittles people with disabilities. But for those posting the images, many making it clear that they had never posted on social media until this moment, the hashtag was empowering. It reminded them, and let them remind the world, that having a disability doesn't mean that you can't date or love or use social media or have a relationship. It's is always just an aspect of a person and never the whole story.

We're thinking of trying #DisabledAndDateable....who's with us?!!