Dateability: Making Love Accessible for the World's Largest Minority
In briefAI summary — tap to read
Jacqueline and Alexa Child founded Dateability, a free dating app designed exclusively for disabled and chronically ill people—the world's largest minority. After Jacqueline's experience with rejection and discrimination on mainstream dating apps, the sisters created a platform featuring a "Deets" section for transparent disclosure of disabilities, profile verification, and image descriptions to make dating more accessible and less anxiety-inducing for this underserved community. Since launching in October 2022, Dateability has attracted nearly 20,000 users across North America with a surprising 50/50 gender split and 48% identifying as queer.
Key takeaways
- Dateability solves the disclosure problem by letting users list disabilities upfront in a neutral 'Deets' section, reducing anxiety and enabling better-matched connections without awkward conversations.
- The app has nearly 20,000 users in just 18 months with zero marketing budget, driven primarily by press coverage and partnerships with disability organizations like the Arthritis Foundation.
- Disabled founders face extreme funding barriers—disabled and female founders combined receive virtually no venture capital, yet Dateability proves the market opportunity by maintaining a 50/50 gender split compared to 70/30 on mainstream apps.
- The platform serves not just disabled users but also those practicing COVID precautions and neurodivergent individuals, creating an unexpectedly diverse and compassionate dating community.
- Safety features including manual profile verification, daily report reviews, zero-tolerance harassment policies, and new-user approval gates protect vulnerable users without relying solely on AI moderation.
About Alexa and Jacqueline ChildJacqueline and Alexa Child are sisters and founders of Dateability. Jacqueline developed multiple chronic illnesses at age 14, experiencing discrimination on mainstream dating apps after college; Alexa is her older sister who co-founded the app to solve the dating challenges facing disabled and chronically ill people.
AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF May 20, 2024
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Dateability: Making Love Accessible for the World's Largest Minority
Speaker: Alexa and Jacqueline Child
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Program: Dateability: Making Love Accessible for the World's Largest Minority
Speaker: Alexa and Jacqueline Child
Every week we bring you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub or Rotary International.
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Dateability is the only dating app designed for the disabled and chronically ill communities. People with disabilities and chronic illness often encounter ableism on other dating apps. We understand the unique circumstances that present when dating with a disability, which is why we created a safe and accepting space to create meaningful connections for people with physical, intellectual, and psychiatric disabilities.
Our speakers are Alexa and Jacqueline Child. Alexa graduated from College of the Holy Cross in 2012 and Georgetown University Law Center in 2015. After law school, she began her career in public service and is currently a public interest attorney. Alexa and her sister collaborated on Dateability after Jacqueline’s negative experiences dating with chronic illness. She enjoys all the typical Colorado things—hiking and skiing—but also loves to cook and binge-watch TV.
After becoming disabled due to chronic illnesses as a teenager, Jacqueline’s life was forever changed. She was quickly exposed to the ableist behaviors and expectations perpetuated by society. She found dating challenging and would always fear disclosing her disability. She constantly wished she could meet someone else who understood life with chronic illness and disabilities. Since there wasn’t an app to do that, Jacqueline and Alexa decided they would make one.
Jacqueline Child graduated from Colorado College in 2016 with a degree in Psychology and received her master’s degree in Family and Human Development in 2017. She spends her free time playing music, volunteering at the local animal shelter, and hanging with her family and her dog, Luna.
Members and guests, please welcome Alexa and Jacqueline Child!
To learn more, go to:
https://info.dateabilityapp.com/
Download Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dateability/id6443474660
Download Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dateabilityapp&hl=en&gl=US
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