Dating With A Disability

Dating With A Disability
Dating With A Disability

This was such a great article in the New York Times titled Dating With a Disability. Many people can relate to the difficulty of dating when you have a disability or condition. In the article, three American women Tabitha, Ally and Emilie dive deep and get real about dating with their physical disabilities. Here are their stories –

“If I ever saw the pope, I would ask him to pray that I find love,” she says with a sad smile. ~ Tabitha Estrellado 32 from NYC.

Tabitha Estrellado is 32 from Queens, New York. She suffers from muscular dystrophy, a chronic disease. Muscular dystrophy weaken muscles over time until they no longer work, therefore this requires her to be in a wheelchair at all times. As a singer-song writer Tabitha loves to go out into the New York night life and doesn’t let her disabilities stop her.

Tabitha has day and night aides that help take care of her, which can be hard when she brings men home. Tabitha recalls an incident where she was dating a guy and he lifted her from her wheelchair and dropped her by accident. This resulted in a trip to the hospital.

“I put out early.” ~ Ally Bruener, a comedian who suffers from congenital muscular dystrophy.

Ally Bruener is a 28 year old comedian who suffers from congenital muscular dystrophy. She lives in Kentucky and like Tabitha uses a wheelchair to get around.

Ally dresses girly, but her comedy would throw you for a loop as she is very raunchy in her standup act.

Ally has happily been in a relationship for six years with her current boyfriend.

“He felt like he couldn’t take care of me like he needed to,” says Ms. McCauley, who is from Greenville, N.C. ~Emilie McCauley

Emilie McCauley, 24 suffers from muscular dystrophy but doesn’t use a wheelchair.

Sadly, Emilie is a victim of being in a sexually abusive relationship (which is common for people with disabilities to be in). Her then boyfriend became sexually violet and Ally, lacked the strength due to her condition to fight back.

Due to this Emilie, is staying way from dating for a while and is happy with the company of her golden retriever.

Source – https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/well/family/dating-with-a-disability.html

Bonus – This is a moving documentary to watch




Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *