Unconditional love

Love isn’t always easy to find. And for some, circumstances make it tougher. But there is a platform now that might help you find a perfect match regardless of your condition. Inclov is a matchmaking app helping people with disability and health disorders find love.

“But it is not exclusive to people with special needs, it is just inclusive of them. On the website, 40 per cent of people do not have any health condition. So the website has a wider reach,” shares Shankar Srinivasan, co-founder of Inclov. Shankar wanted to make an app in the matchmaking space but slowly the app evolved into a space for inclusive matchmaking.

“The already existing apps were not able to help everyone. So we understood that this app can solve a huge problem, and we didn’t want to just focus on making money,” he adds. The app has approximately 10,000 users and around 5,000 matches. The app is available in 80 cities and towns across India.

“The app also caters to people who want to make friends and are not just looking for romantic partners. We have a social meet-up program, under which we make sure that people with special needs can go out and meet other people. It is not often that they get to do so because of the lack of accessibility at many public places. One of our first meet was at a beach in Chennai, which has accessibility for all. It was quite an emotional occasion as some of the participants had never been to a beach before,” he shares.

Inclov has organised 20 meet-up sessions across the country so far, in places like restaurants, cafés, yoga studios and has also organised events including stand-up comedy and storytelling.

Talking about the matches that happen on the app, Shankar admits, “People do match keeping their lifestyles in mind. For example, somebody with reduced mobility might match with someone with similar conditions, for they understand the problems and have similar experiences. But it is not as if matches are happening according to disabilities. Cure, level of independence, disability percentage also play a part in the match-making.”

The app also plans to include voice assistance and sign language for people with visual and hearing impairment. “We are also looking at inclusion of multiple languages by the end of this year, so that the app can have a wider reach and be helpful to more people,” he says.

The platform will have a meet-up at Kitty Su, in Delhi on June 26