People say matches are made in heaven, but for people with disability, matches are sometimes engineered. The brainchild of Shankar Srinivasan and Kalyani Khona, Inclov is an app that helps differently-abled find love. And Shankar Srinivasan is happy at the response the idea has gotten. “We wanted to do something in the match making scene but not with a regular set-up,” explains Shankar who completed his education in Mumbai and visits Bengaluru for meet-ups often. Wanting to give the society equal opportunities to find a perfect match, the duo helps people with physical disabilities find relationships, friendships and in some cases even marriage. Starting in 2014, as an offline agency, Inclov went on to become an online platform which currently claims to be the world’s first match making app focusing on people with physical disabilities. Before he joined hands with Kalyani, Shankar was a part of a company that focused on education.
The social side
Explaining further, “Once the app is downloaded, one can build a profile. The app asks for details about the disability, extent and level of independence as well. Most often, a match is made based on these parameters. Once the match is made one can start chatting on the app and it is up to the person to take it forward,” he explains.
The impact
“The app was launched in January 2016, and currently we have about 30,000 people across the country who are registered on this platform. Also, we have found about 7,500 matches,” says Shankar, who is an avid football buff and loves playing the game, watching it and has his favourite clubs.
Disability is still a taboo and hence a lot of people are hesitant in exploring further. He feels that they give up the thought of finding a partner or match or even companionship due to this. The fitness buff, is also a believer of mindfullness and takes time for meditation to still the mind when ever he can. “People have become more open in talking about disabilities through the app. There is no issue of transparency and a lot of people can be seen chatting about their disability,” he adds.
The future is bright
In the past two years, the app had had over 30 meet-ups and in the coming year 2018, they aspire to have a total of 50 meet ups across the country. They also want to make the app more accessible, though it is fully accessible to the visually impaired community as of today.
