Co-founder
Maya Okafor - Co-founder & CEO
Wheelchair user since age 19 after a spinal cord injury. Former product lead at two health-tech startups. Sets the platform vision and signs off on every accessibility decision.
About DisabledDating
We Built DisabledDating Because Love Shouldn't Require Explanation
A disability dating app made by adults who have lived every line of code - wheelchair users, Deaf adults, Autistic founders, and disability rights advocates who wanted a platform that finally treated us like full human beings looking for love.
Founded 2023 · Headquartered in Austin, TX · Built with the community
Our mission
Our Mission: Authentic Connection, Zero Ableism
DisabledDating exists so that adults with disabilities can date on equal footing - without the disclosure tax, without the fetishization, without the silent assumption that romance is something other people get to have. We are an anti-ableist disabled dating site, not an "inspiration" brand.
That mission shapes every product decision. We carry an internal accessibility budget on par with marketing. We treat language as a feature: members choose identity-first or person-first terms because both are valid, and the community decides. We also remain cautious with framing. As neuroscientist Mo Costandi has noted, broad terms like "neurotypical" and "neurodiversity" are contested in clinical settings, so we use community-preferred labels first and clinical labels only where they help - never to flatten lived experience.
Read more about why members choose us over mainstream apps or how our disability dating app works.
The founding story
How DisabledDating Started
In 2023, our three co-founders met on a disability advocacy Slack and discovered they had been having the same conversation in three different cities: every mainstream dating app rewarded swipe speed over context, asked nothing about access, and let ableist messages stay up for days. One had been ghosted after posting a wheelchair photo on Hinge. One was tired of explaining cochlear implants on Tinder. One had stopped opening Bumble entirely after her ADHD diagnosis.
"We didn't want another app that tolerated us. We wanted a platform that started with us - accessibility, identity, and safety as the first commits to the codebase, not the last." - Maya Okafor, co-founder & CEO
The first prototype shipped in late 2024 with three categories. By May 2026 the platform supports twelve communities, runs on a WCAG 2.2 AA foundation, and is moderated by a team that is majority-disabled itself. Every founding decision - selfie-video verification, devotee detection, free messaging on the basic tier - came from a list of harms our team had personally experienced on mainstream apps.
Meet the Team Behind the Platform
Every founder and lead at DisabledDating has lived experience of disability. We hire from the community we serve - not as a tagline, but as an accountability structure.
Co-founder
Priya Ramachandran - Co-founder & Head of Community
Deaf since birth, ASL-first communicator with a cochlear implant. Built our Deaf community guidelines and the captioned-video infrastructure. Leads partnerships with disability orgs.
Co-founder
Sarah Bennett - Co-founder & Head of Trust
Late-diagnosed Autistic adult, formerly an online safety researcher. Designed the verification flow, devotee detection, and the public anti-ableism policy. Runs 24/7 moderation.
Members can hear directly from our community on the success stories page.
What We Stand For
Four values shape every product decision, hiring choice, and moderation policy on DisabledDating.
Anti-ableism
Our policy is published, enforced, and reviewed quarterly. Ableist slurs, "inspiration" framing, and fetish accounts are removable offenses - not appeals.
Radical inclusion
Twelve community categories, identity-first or person-first toggle, LGBTQIA+ across every category, multilingual moderation, and accessibility budgets in every sprint.
Safety as a feature
Selfie-video verification, devotee detection, human moderation within four hours, and a one-tap block-and-report flow that doesn't ask you to justify yourself.
Equal partnership
We never frame disabled members as people to be "saved." Interabled couples are partners, not caregiver-and-charge. Our content reflects that on every page.
The Numbers That Drive Us
Loneliness among adults with disabilities is a measurable public health issue. These four numbers are the reason DisabledDating exists - and the benchmarks we track our impact against.
58%
of women with physical disabilities are single
Baylor College of Medicine
120K+
verified members across all 50 U.S. states
DisabledDating internal data, May 2026
8,400
matches that became relationships in the past year
Member-reported, 2025-2026
4 hrs
median moderation response time on reports
Trust & Safety dashboard, Q1 2026
Recognized by Leading Voices
Coverage from outlets that take disability seriously - not as a feel-good headline, but as a community story worth telling honestly.
PEOPLE Magazine
CNN Style
Disability Visibility Podcast
The Accessible Stall
Forbes 30 Under 30 (Social Impact)
Fast Company Innovation by Design
PEOPLE Magazine
"A dating app where disability isn't a footnote"
Featured in PEOPLE's 2025 roundup of platforms changing the way Americans find partners, with a profile of Kaci & Collin's wedding.
CNN Style
"What inclusive design actually looks like"
CNN Style highlighted the platform's WCAG 2.2 work, captioned video calling, and Deaf-led product roadmap as a model for the industry.
Disability Visibility
"Built with the community, not for it"
The Disability Visibility podcast hosted our founders for an hour-long conversation on identity-first language and trauma-informed product design.
For press inquiries, visit our contact page.