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Couple Share Incredible Photos To Break Stigma About Dating With Disabilities

Harvey Day

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| Last updated 

Couple Share Incredible Photos To Break Stigma About Dating With Disabilities

Featured Image Credit: Pexels

A young couple have shared some inspiring photos of their flourishing relationship to help break the stigma around dating with disabilities.

Shane Burcaw, 26, from Pennsylvania, and Hannah Aylward, 25, originally from Minnesota, have also been documenting their coupling with a series of popular YouTube videos.

Shane, who was born with a neuromuscular disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) and has used a wheelchair since he was two-years-old, met Hannah after appearing in a documentary produced by The Office's Rainn Wilson. Hannah decided to reach out to Shane - and they've been smitten ever since.

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Shane told the Daily Mail: "Our goal is to normalise disability and relationships like ours."

Things aren't easy for the pair, however, who are often mistaken for siblings or a patient and carer.

"When Hannah and I are out in public together, strangers routinely assume that we are siblings, or that she is my paid caregiver, or even worse, my mum," Shane added.

"There are a variety of damaging stigmas surrounding disability, but one of the most pervasive ideas is that people with a disability are incapable or unworthy of romantic relationships."

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And the pair hope their social media presence will help to challenge this. "We are Shane and Hannah. We've been dating for over two years, and we've discovered that people find our relationship to be pretty peculiar," they say on YouTube.

"One of us has a severe muscle wasting disease, and uses a wheelchair. The other one of us...doesn't. Shane's disability plays a huge role in our relationship, but not in the way that most people expect. Watch us navigate our life together and laugh with us along the way."

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The couple's YouTube channel, called Squirmy and Grubs, was set up six months ago and has already attracted millions of views and 137,767 subscribers.

Topics: Life News, Real

Harvey Day
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