Critical Examination of Dating Apps for Disabled Users

Online dating is a popular way of dating for the last years, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. Many dating apps developed in recent years, with different interface design as well as different rules and content, providing various kinds of interaction. The most popular ones such as Tinder, Bumble or OkCupid ask for information such as sexual preferences, height and weight, type of a relationship that you are looking for, smoking or drinking habits, favorite activities and users also need to upload at least one photo. There are also some dating apps who specifically designed for disabled users such as DateAbility or Dating4Disabled. In these apps, there are generally additional questions which ask for disabilities users may have.

The main goal of this thesis to critically examine selected dating apps (mainstream as well as disability specific ones) from the perspective of disabled users specifically focusing on 1) how disabled users interact with the dating apps and whether the interface is accessible for various disabled users 2) what are the disclosure preferences of disabled users while interacting through dating apps and whether dating apps support these practices 3) how the preferences of disabled users and Disability Justice framework might support designing a justice-oriented dating app