This is what online dating is like when you re blind huffpost life


This Is What Online Dating Is Like When You re Blind
James Rath, 23, filmmaker, speaker and accessibility advocate: I have done the whole Bumble and Tinder thing. My profile does hint at the fact that I’m blind but I often times don’t flat-out say it unless asked about it. It says, “Hope you’re into the whole blind date thing.” Those relationships typically don’t last too long to be honest, either myself or the other person lose interest. I haven’t been able to get too emotionally attached to anyone from dating apps and I find the whole swipe and speed-text dating game tedious and repetitive.
This Is What Online Dating Is Like When You're Blind
If you’re single these days, you know that connecting with someone on a dating app is truly like finding love in a hopeless place.
Now imagine how much more complicated it would be if you were blind. After all, dating apps are inherently visual platforms, so there are considerable logistical complications for low-vision users.
To start with, most apps don’t offer alt text descriptions, so you’d have to rely on what you can make out of a person’s pictures before you swipe. What’s alt text? Basically, a description of images that’s read aloud to blind users on a screen reader. For example, a user might plug in this information about his pic: “Man in his early 20s wearing sunglasses holds a fish he caught on river. just like every other 20-something dude on Tinder.” (Yeah, OK, we took a little creative liberty with that last part.)
Many phones have a magnifier tool in their accessibility settings that allows users to enlarge the tiny text on apps and online dating sites. But their designs are cumbersome, making them a hassle and a bad user experience.
Of course, for any modern single person, the payoff of online dating ― eventually finding love ― can be entirely worth the effort. To get a better sense of dating when you’re legally blind, we talked to four low-visioned 20-somethings about their search for love, and what dating apps can do to make their platforms more inclusive.
Responses have been edited for clarity and style.
What’s online dating like for you in general? Do you mention that you’re blind in your profiles?
Casey Greer, 26, actress and YouTuber at “How Casey Sees It”: My experience with online dating has been positive overall. There are pros and cons when it comes to whether or not I should mention that I’m legally blind in my profile. If it’s not in my profile, I have to awkwardly find a way to bring it up while we are messaging. If it is in my profile, it can either turn people off before they get to know me or it can attract people who may want to take advantage of me because they assume I’m vulnerable. I have tried both ways and haven’t decided which I prefer.
Robert Kingett, 29, journalist and disability advocate: I’m ignored a lot of the time online because of my disabilities but I also think it’s my weird, strong personality. I definitely throw it all out there, that I’m blind and stutter, that I’ve already written about myself in blogs, that I may be demisexual, but extremely romantic and a very driven activist and writer. I throw it all out there because it forces any players to go running.
James Rath, 23, filmmaker, speaker and accessibility advocate: I have done the whole Bumble and Tinder thing. My profile does hint at the fact that I’m blind but I often times don’t flat-out say it unless asked about it. It says, “Hope you’re into the whole blind date thing.” Those relationships typically don’t last too long to be honest, either myself or the other person lose interest. I haven’t been able to get too emotionally attached to anyone from dating apps and I find the whole swipe and speed-text dating game tedious and repetitive.
Hannah Steininger, 25, designer and founder of Watson & Wilma: For a long time, I would only tell those closest to me or wait until I had known someone at least a month or so before breaking the bad news. I wanted people to get to know me first without just seeing my disability. Looking back, I wish I would have told people up front. I never included it in my Tinder or Bumble profiles and certainly never disclosed it on a first date. I have come to realize that [my condition] doesn’t define who I am and it is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is important and people need to know.
Have you been legally blind since birth or did it come on later in life?
Greer: I have been legally blind since birth. I have a rare genetic condition called Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome. I’m not completely blind, but my vision is very poor and cannot be corrected by glasses, contacts, or surgery. My eyes are also severely sensitive to the sun and I have nystagmus, which for me means my eyes shake involuntarily.
Kingett: I’ve been legally blind my whole life but was recently completely blinded by a sudden case of glaucoma. I knew I had a detached retina but had no idea I even had glaucoma until it robbed me of my remaining vision in 2017. I also have cerebral palsy and stutter, so, naturally, this makes meeting people in person barely adequate, communication-wise.
Rath: I’ve been legally blind since birth. That means yes, I can “see,” but it’s non-correctable and my eyesight has a stamina where if I overexhaust or overuse the little sight I have to make out things such as colors and silhouettes, then it causes migraines. I see overexposure of light, blurriness (Ocular albinism), and vertigo (Nystagmus) constantly. I’ve had these ocular conditions since birth.
Steininger: I have a degenerative eye disease called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). While I am confident that I have always had RP, I was not aware of it or formally diagnosed until age 15. This disease progresses differently for everyone. In my case, I cannot see in the dark and have low vision during the day. More specifically, I have “islands” or little spots of peripheral vision in each eye and in my left eye I do not have central vision. I can’t drive and must rely on Uber and those closest to me to get around, so it does impact more than just my sight; it affects my whole life.