For 24-year-old Sira Rehn, a dating app for people with mild intellectual disabilities and autism has opened up the world of online dating and a chance to find love in a safe space.
“In here, I know that people will not judge me, you just have to be yourself,” says Rehn, who long felt excluded from other popular dating apps used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Launched in Sweden last November, the DigiVi app is reserved for people with autism or mild intellectual disabilities, specifically those with an IQ of between 50 and 69.
The app features a simplified user interface and requires an in-person meeting to create an account in order to ensure the security of users, who are often victims of abuse on social media.
Seated at a cafe in Uppsala, north of Stockholm, Rehn sips a lemonade while tapping energetically on a cell phone.
Rehn identifies as non-binary and uses the gender neutral Swedish pronoun “hen”, equivalent to “they” in English.
– Excluded from online world –
“I’ve just started to chat with someone!”, Rehn tells an AFP journalist.
“We share the same interests, she seems nice. I can’t wait to see what will happen… I dream of finding love,” they gush.
Rehn’s profile features a photo and a list of interests and hobbies: singing, dogs and watching movies.
“On other platforms I used to hide my disability but it’s a big part of who I am. People didn’t want to talk to me when they found out about it,” they recall.
DigiVi — a contraction of the words “Digital” and “Vi”, which means “us” in Swedish — was developed by an organisation that helps people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities.
The app’s functions are stripped down to the bare minimum: a profile, a discussion forum, and a help button.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people with disabilities, especially those with intellectual disabilities, are shut out of the digital world because a lot of things on the internet are complicated even though they don’t need to be,” explains Magnus Linden, one of the app’s founders.
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