Cupid’s Arrow offers an accessible matchmaking platform for disabled people

Finding that soulmate to spend your life with comes with many challenges for disabled people in India. Many single disabled people struggle to find the support or space they need to make the choices for themselves. Aiming to change that is a new matchmaking site that is accessible and exclusively for disabled people called Cupid’s Arrow.

Choosing the right life partner has perhaps never been easier given the plethora of matchmaking sites. However, not many single disabled people use them, one key reason being lack of accessibility.

Something that Nirandas Thavorath is out to change with his recently launched matchmaking website Cupid’s Arrow. Nirandas is visually impaired and lives in Kannur, Kerala. “I lost my sight at the age of six and my schooling was disrupted. In 2005, I moved to Mumbai and did my graduation through open university and learned programming by myself with my mothers help”.

A few years ago, Nirandas went online in search of a life partner and realised how inaccessible matchmaking websites are for disabled people.

There are a lot of online matrimonial sites and thousands of profiles on them, the number of disabled people using these services are still low. I spent a lot of time and money on existing matrimonial sites before meeting my wife, who has low vision, on one of them. So, through my own experience, I understand that making use of digital technology for finding partners does work and will be the way going forward as internet usage increases. – Nirandas Thavorath, Founder, Cupid’s Arrow

Cupid’s Arrow designed by disabled, for disabled people

Cupid’s Arrow focuses on people with disabilities who want to match up with other disabled singles. “We aim to provide a fully accessible website so that a large number of disabled people from all around the globe can be brought together on a single platform”, says Nirandas. The costs are kept low by offering a free plan as well as a low cost premium plan.

There are several features on this platform to enable disabled people to decide on their choice of partner independently. A private one-on-one messaging feature allows users to chat and get to know one another before deciding whether to take matters to the next level. “This improves safety as Cupid’s Arrow does not make available any contact information of its member to anyone. It is up to each individual member how much personal information they want to share in private chat”, adds Nirandas.

Site open to non-disabled people looking for disabled partners

Cupid’s Arrow is open to people of all disability types regardless of nationality or gender. It is also open to non-disabled people who are open to the idea of marrying a disabled person. There is a search feature that allows users to look for profiles with specific disabilities as well.

Nirandas says the response to Cupid’s Arrow has been mostly positive. New features have been aded based on user feedback. Like users can upload an audio introduction on their profile just like photos.”Our objective is to become
the default choice for online matchmaking for the disabled”, says Nirandas.

For any questions about Cupid’s Arrow email here. You can upload your profile at this link.

Watch in Sign Language

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