How matrimonial websites are playing Matchmaker to the differently abled

The first week of July saw the beautiful union of a very special couple in Pune, India. The fairy tale wedding of Dubai-based Vignesh Krishnaswamy and Ananya Sawant was truly momentous and path breaking, as it was the coming together of two individuals with Down’s Syndrome.

Vignesh, 28, a former student of Al Noor Training Centre for Persons with Determination in Dubai, works at the front office of a five-star beach resort in Palm Jumeirah, while Ananya, 21, a resident of Pune, is a school teacher at a special needs school run by her parents. The wedding was a dream come true for the couple and their families. “Their marriage is the first of its kind in our community and will hopefully give other parents a reason to know that their special children can also lead a normal life,” says T N Viswanathan, Vignesh’s father.

Interestingly, Vignesh’s and Ananya’s parents matched their profile through a Facebook forum called Inclusive Matrimony, one of the several matrimonial services currently available for people of determination.

For Vignesh, it was his sister Janani who had shared his profile on Inclusive Matrimony last year. A few months later, Dr. Tejaswita, Ananya’s mother, approached them. A zoom meeting helped the families get to know each other better and eventually a meeting was arranged in India. “It was heartwarming to see that both Vignesh and Ananya took to each other instantly. They are very similar in nature and found many common interests,” shares Viswanathan. Post their much-talked about wedding, the couple now lives in Dubai with Vignesh’s parents. Their happily ever after is an inspiration for many other differently-abled individuals seeking love and matrimony.

Typically, dating and marriage for people with special needs has always been a challenge. In spite of being independent and employed, many of them have had to face rejections when it came to finding a life partner. To bridge this gap Punjab-based visually impaired journalist and founder of RadioUdaan, Danish Mahajan launched a matrimony service on his website radioudaan.com a few years ago. “Our matrimony service caters to both individuals with disabilities and warmly welcomes non disabled individuals who want to marry a person with a disability,” shares Danish. The service operates through the website where interested candidates register and share their profile and preferences. “We also organise offline and online matrimony get-togethers for our participants to meet and interact in a safe environment. There is even a personalized service where we assist in connecting potential matches with their consent,” he explains.

At Inclusive Matrimony, the first point of contact is through Facebook messenger. The profiles are then collected and saved on an excel sheet and matched according to religion, language and location. “We then move parents to a WhatsApp group for discussions and interaction. There is also a separate social media group for young adults, where we help them mingle, hold zoom meetings with fun activities, playing antakshari, sharing quizzes and jokes,” says Anu.

RadioUdaan played cupid for Prateek Agrawal, a Jaipur-based IT professional and entrepreneur, who found the love of his life through the website. In fact, his wife Swati, was the host of a sports show on the channel. Both Prateek and Swati are visually impaired. “I was fascinated with her voice and her in-depth knowledge about sports. The first time we spoke, we ended up talking for hours. A few weeks later, our families became involved. Now we have been married for five years and have a four-year-old child,” shares Prateek.

‘The secret of a happy marriage is finding the right person. You know they are right if you love to be with them all the time.’ This take on marriage by Julia Child, is what sends millions of singles on a quest to find that one person they can spend their entire life with. Assisting the differently abled on this path are these online platforms.

Scroll the internet, and you will find abilitymatrimony.com, jeevansathi.com/ handicapped-matrimony-matrimonials, divyangsathiya.com, imilap.com, indiadeafmatrimonial.com among many others. What’s more, a few of these matrimonial websites are founded and run by persons with challenges, who started these initiatives through their own personal experiences.

For Sursinh Solanki, an Ahmedabad-based SAP consultant with an orthopedic disability, it was his own successful arranged marriage to a non-disabled person that led him to create partnerabled.com, a matrimonial and employment website for the disabled in 2022.

“I know it’s not easy to find an understanding and caring life partner for people in our community. I was very fortunate when I found mine [wife Hemlata] 17 years ago. Since then, I wanted to give back to my community and I felt this was one of the best ways I could contribute,” says Sursinh, who also advocates for accessibility and has been running a popular YouTube channel called BarrierFreeWorld.

As the name suggests the site is for both disabled and non-disabled, who want to marry a person with the disability. Since its inception, on partnerabled.com 450 people have registered and over 50 marriages have taken place.

Keeping pace with today’s technology-driven world, there is now an app to help the differently abled find love. MatchAble, a dating app exclusive for people with disabilities, was launched in India, in September 2022. “The app itself asks if the user has any special needs and if they are comfortable sharing about it. We also have a brightness and font adjusting feature for people with retina display disorder. The algorithm of the app works in a way that it brings like-minded people together helping them to initiate conversations and develop meaningful relationships,” explains Minal Sethi, founder of the app.

After having lived in the US for a few years, when Minal returned to India, she saw that unlike in the west, there was a lack of inclusivity in her home country, and they were no dating platforms for the differently abled.

The app, she says, since its launch has found a positive response in the community.

To facilitate joyful union for the differently abled most of these matrimonial sites are run on a voluntary basis. They offer free services, with some of them also verifying the profiles before uploading.

Yet site makers say that there have been cases of breach of privacy and fake profiles. “We have had a few instances when we had to remove these profiles from the site,” says Sursinh. The other challenges, he says, are fewer female registrations, technological barriers and lack of volunteer support.

Battling societal prejuidices towards differently abled and funding are also major roadblocks for these matrimonial service providers.

Yet, as they say, love conquers all and everyone roots for a memorable happily ever after.“With the support of our community and stakeholders, we continue to overcome these challenges and strive to make a difference in the lives of those seeking companionship and lasting marriages,” says Danish.