Special Bridge is a private dating site and online social community designed to help meet the social and emotional needs of its members. Through a supportive and friendly environment, people of all ability levels can make new friends in a fun, private, and welcoming setting. Whether you want to find a romantic relationship or a simple lasting friendship, Special Bridge can help its members find their perfect matches. When you sign up for Special Bridge, you will feel welcomed and supported by a private community that truly understands how difficult it can be to meet new people with similar disabilities. Find other people with similar interests, disabilities or even someone in your local area. We do not allow for fake profiles. At Special Bridge, you can rest assured that all members are real people that you can communicate with today. Our internal chat and messaging system is an easy and great way for our members to communicate privately without giving away their personal contact information. It's fun and making friends no matter what if they request me or if they don't that's okay. Have a question about Special Bridge? Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. By subscribing to our mailing list you will always be up-to-date with the latest Special Bridge news and articles. Your privacy is always important to us. We will not give your name or email address to any third-parties. Your privacy is important to us and we will never rent or sell your information. I agree with the terms and conditions. Join Now. Recently Active Members. Welcome to Special Bridge Special Bridge is a private dating site and online social community designed to help meet the social and emotional needs of its members. Join Special Bridge Today!
https://images.hindustantimes.com/rf/image_size_640x362/HT/p2/2019/12/03/Pictures/_087ff4c2-158d-11ea-ba57-c3a9d68be36c.jpgDating and Social Resources for People with Disability
As seen on. Reasons to Join Special Bridge When you sign up for Special Bridge, you will feel welcomed and supported by a private community that truly understands how difficult it can be to meet new people with similar disabilities. See More Reasons. What Our Members Are Saying. Questions or Concerns? Contact Us. Mailing List Signup By subscribing to our mailing list you will always be up-to-date with the latest Special Bridge news and articles. Join Now Login. Select Your Membership. Our guest this week is Shandra Cubin, co-founder of Special Hearts, a dating app for parents of kids with special needs. Shandra and her husband, Rich, have two children, including a son, Koen, who has been diagnosed with Seizure Disorder and Hyperlexia, which includes the ability to read at a surprisingly early age and often accompanied by an obsessive interest in letters and numbers. Tom Couch: Special thanks to Horizon Therapeutics for sponsoring the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast working tirelessly to research, develop, and bring forward medicines for people living with rare and rheumatic diseases. Always advocate for your child. Always stay positive.
Shandra also has two children, one of whom, Koen, has been diagnosed with Seizure Disorder and Hyperlexia. Say hello to host David Hirsch. David Hirsch: Hi, and thanks for listening to the Dad to Dad Podcast, fathers mentoring fathers of children with special needs, presented by the Special Fathers Network. Tom Couch: The Special Fathers Network is a dad to dad mentoring program for fathers raising children with special needs. Through our personalized matching process, new fathers with special needs children connect with mentor fathers in a similar situation. To find out more, go to 21stcenturydads. Please go to facebook. David Hirsch: I am thrilled to be talking today with Shandra Cubin of San Diego, California, a mother of two young children, a wife, and co-founder of Special Hearts, a dating app for single parents raising children with special needs. Shandra, thank you for taking the time to do a podcast interview for the Special Fathers Network. David Hirsch: You and your husband Rich are the proud parents of two children, Cecilia, four, and Koen, six, who was diagnosed with Seizure Disorder as well as Hyperlexia. Where did you grow up? Tell me something about your family. Shandra Cubin: I grew up in San Diego, California, born and raised, and I grew up in a law enforcement family, which I think is unique. My parents were both in law enforcement. My stepdad went on to become Chief of Police here in San Diego.
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My mom was a deputy sheriff. So I came from this huge law enforcement and lawyer family. I ended up getting into figure skating, which was definitely different, and took that all the way for 21 years. David Hirsch: Well, that is very interesting. There are a lot of people that are playing by the rules, if you will. Shandra Cubin: Absolutely. But I think it was a good thing, because I learned discipline, I learned respect. I learned to respect others. I learned to respect laws. And I think that ultimately it really shaped who I am today.Shandra Cubin: He was fantastic. He was a hundred percent my father, and I never looked at him as a stepfather. And a lot of my foundation was based on his teachings and what he was able to provide for me. Shandra Cubin: Just to be patient. He was always very patient with me. He was always very level-headed. And so I would like to be more like him actually. And it takes work to be that calm collected parent, but he was always that person for me. He was always the person to right wrongs and walk me through things in a calm fashion, and I wish I could be more like him. He was in the Marine Corps, very proud of his service to the US, and he went on to become an engineer, worked in aerospace technology. Just a brilliant man, and I love him to death. Just a fantastic person, fiery, fun, a comedian. And I could always depend on him for love and support no matter what.
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Not everybody gets to know their grandparents. So from what I remember you saying, you were homeschooled as a young person. How did that start, and where did that take you? That did not happen. However, I certainly had a substantial amount of success in my skating career. It was a difficult transition when I left, because my identity was rooted in my figure skating. Everyone knew me as the figure skater. That was who I was. I felt like I was starting all over again, as if I had just graduated from high school. So I was already done with one career at that point, and it was a big life change for me to leave that world. And now I feel like I am just going through the motions, trying to please my family by going into law. I kind of threw around wanting to go into the field of psychology.
And I thought that that would really be fulfilling. They were the best in the biz. And I met with my future husband in Santa Monica, and after I met Rich in the meeting, pretty much all of those plans changed. Shandra Cubin: You know, as a matter of fact, the ice rink did get built. It was actually built when Rich and I were married, and it turned out to be an amazing project, something we were both very, very proud of. But that initial meeting in Santa Monica, California, led to Rich and I starting to talk as friends for a while. And then I went to Michigan to work on the Winter Classic, because he was doing a rink at Comerica Park, and also working on the Winter Classic when it was back there. We started dating, and I decided that I really wanted to be a mom. And again, like I said, all of those plans that I had set in stone definitely changed overnight. Shandra Cubin: I had a moderate exposure through my grandmother, who was a school teacher who worked in special needs for 25 years. She was just such an angel on earth and loved her kids so much. But that would be the only experience I really had, just listening to her stories, seeing the compassion, seeing the love that she had for her children in the classroom. And again, like I said, she was just such a special woman, and she was so patient, and her heart was just so full of understanding and empathy for these children. So he deals with that, which is pretty under control at this point. There are different levels to that, and that would be Hyperlexia with some traits of autism, but something that he will likely grow out of, so to speak, with the proper therapies and interventions. Because he understands that, hey, listen, things are tough for me sometimes. And that is hard, you know, as a mother to sit back and watch, because of course I want to step in and save him and make everything easy for him, and want him to just have a normal life with no issues whatsoever. Shandra Cubin: Yes, absolutely.
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He started reading and writing when he just turned three. We spent a lot of time with him, but it seemed remarkable, especially after we had our daughter. And so he would go in the bathtub—and we had him in speech therapy at that point—he would go in the bathtub and he would write his ABCs in paint or he would write words or his name or numbers. And it was just so odd to see this three year old little boy writing and reading. He taught himself how to read, which is remarkable. He used phonics. I helped him a little bit, but he was just able to pick up a book and read it. They did assess him, and they thought, okay, this is kind of an interesting child. But you know, like I said, to see a little three year old reading and writing is something special, certainly. David Hirsch: Well, thanks for sharing. Shandra Cubin: Well, some of my fear is that it will be very difficult for him to overcome some of his challenges. And another fear that I have is him not being accepted by his peers. You know, childhood is difficult enough when everything is seemingly perfect, and then you throw a disability into the mix and kids are cruel. Which is heartbreaking. And so these are some of the things that I worry about, that his challenges will be difficult to overcome. And then he will be so hard on himself that he will experience depression or other issues that go along with that.David Hirsch: Well, thanks for your transparency. David Hirsch: Excellent. Thank you for sharing. We really kind of suspended our business operations to make sure that Koen is taken care of. She loved him from inside the womb. She would pretty much only respond to him touching my belly and talking to her. And I would definitely say he is just the love of her life right now. Maybe I feel the mom guilt at times. It changes your outlook on life. It changes your outlook on humanity. I look at people in an entirely different way now. David Hirsch: Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing. Looking back now, you could put in perspective the empathy and compassion she had for her students over her long career as a special education teacher. There is a small group of moms here or there in San Diego that I could connect with at some point. But I credit her for really getting him to start speaking and opening up. David Hirsch: Okay. And in a perfect world, you would be able to find other parents that have a similar diagnosis, but they were like three to five years ahead of you, right? So you could sort of peek around the corner or see down the road, so you knew what to anticipate and maybe gain some insights or confidence that things can or will get better.
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How did the idea come about? And what is your vision for the Special Hearts dating app? Shandra Cubin: So the idea came about when Koen and I were outside gardening one day. All of a sudden, like a little whisper from heaven, maybe from my grandmother, it popped in my mind. I thought, wow, if I had to be back in the dating scene, it would be very difficult for me. And gosh, how hard must it be for single parents of special needs children that are navigating that dating scene, trying to find somebody special while caring for their special needs child. And I thought, you know, this might be a really unique site that we could build. Shandra Cubin: So we started it a few years ago. I presented it to Rich, and he thought that it was a great idea. But being a successful businessman, of course, despite me being his wife, he wanted a business proposal. He asked if I had done any market research. He wanted to know if there was anything similar, and what the statistics were, and what the divorce rates were, and statistics of special needs children and so forth, in the US and globally. So I got some of that information together, and I presented it to him. We started working with an app developer, and that took a little bit of time to make sure that everything was running smoothly and it was the way that we wanted it to be. We wanted to make sure that it was very user friendly and something that would be very easy to download and just kind of figure out on your own. We really focused on simplicity. We have almost a thousand members, and we are continuing to grow organically.
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So I remember visiting the website, which is special-hearts. Shandra Cubin: Yeah. We wanted to be able to connect people that can relate to their situations. And we have had some success. We hope that happens for everybody. And at a minimum, hopefully they can make some good connections and some friendships perhaps, and some love connections certainly. So we have had a little bit of success connecting people, and hopefully those relationships stick. So if somebody was curious to know about the Special Hearts app, where would they find that? Or how does it work? Is it free? Is there a cost? How does it work?
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Shandra Cubin: So you can visit the website, which is special-hearts. We also have the app on Google Play Store. So you can either download from the website or you can go on Google Play and download from there. In addition to that, we give back to charities. And we would certainly like to give back a lot more. But one of the biggest things that meant the most to us, because we understand the financial strains that come along with dealing with a special needs child, we wanted to be able to give back to some of these organizations that support these parents and do our part. So not only do we want to connect single parents, but we also want to enrich the community and give back as much as possible. It can be tough at times. Well, pearls of wisdom. Shandra Cubin: For myself, I am very spiritual. I would like to believe that there are lessons to be learned from all of this, and I try to find those lessons and make the best of them every day.
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And I think that would be patience and sympathy and empathy and understanding, and compassion most of all. And so I thought, okay, well maybe I needed to learn those lessons in life, compassion and empathy, not just for my son, but for humanity as a whole. And so I think that that would be my spiritual viewpoint at the moment. Always believe that things are going to turn out the best way that they can, and be there and be patient and love that child for the unique person that they are, despite their challenges. So if somebody wants to learn more about Special Hearts or contact you, how would they go about doing? Shandra Cubin: So you can visit the website, special-hearts. You can email us. And then Special-Hearts is for the download to download the app, and any questions can be sent to Rich or myself. Shandra, thank you for taking the time and many insights. I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I did. As you probably know, the 21st Century Dads Foundation is a c 3 not-for-profit organization, which means we need your help to keep our content free to all concerned. Would you please consider making a tax deductible contribution? I would really appreciate your support. The Special Fathers Network is a dad to dad mentoring program for fathers raising children with special needs. Through our personalized matching process, new fathers with special needs children match up with mentor fathers in a similar situation. Thanks again to Horizon Therapeutics, who believe that science and compassion must work together to transform lives. Discover more about Horizon Therapeutics at horizontherapeutics. Mission Statement Improving the lives of children by raising awareness and resources for greater father involvement; and inspiring dads to be present —physically, emotionally, financially and spiritually. Vision Statement That all children will grow up with a loving, caring and nurturing father and family. Click here to join our email list and receive weekly email messages and links to the latest SFN Dad To Dad Podcasts, resources, events and important updates.
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Post navigation. Transcript: Tom Couch: Special thanks to Horizon Therapeutics for sponsoring the Special Fathers Network Dad to Dad Podcast working tirelessly to research, develop, and bring forward medicines for people living with rare and rheumatic diseases. Shandra Cubin: Thank you, David, for having me. David Hirsch: So where did your career take you? David Hirsch: And where did that take you from a career standpoint? David Hirsch: So did the ice rink ever get built? David Hirsch: So when did you start it, and where is it now? Shandra, thanks again. Shandra Cubin: Thank you. Contact Us. Join the 21CD Mailing List. There are more than 2. But what about those who are differently-abled? Don't they have the same rights to choose a partner? After staying in the United States for a while, Minal Sethi returned to India only to find that there is much to be done to ensure equality, accessibility and inclusivity. The recently launched networking app claims to be a platform to break the taboo. A forum far from the orthodox norms of the society, the app according to the maker believes in making genuine connections to enable differently-abled people to find partners. So I decided to take the plunge", she said, while lamenting that the popular dating apps which are meant to be accessible to all but it is not happening. But a dating app like MatchAble which is catering to the differentially abled needs a strong technological infrastructure as this section of the population is more vulnerable to cybercrimes. Dating apps are often criticised for compromising the privacy and data of users.
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The underlying algorithm is often closely scrutinised for inclination towards a certain trait, looks in people. The rapid digital revolution is bringing innovative technologies which are bridging economical as well as social gaps prevalent within our society. However, it warrants care to use this technology cautiously while dealing with sensitive information, as otherwise, the technology also has the potential to be counterproductive. Share Via. MatchAble is a dating app catering to the differently abled people. We're now on WhatsApp. Click to join. Dating Apps In India. Whatsapp Twitter Facebook Linkedin. Join Hindustan Times Create free account and unlock exciting features like Newsletters, Alerts and Recommendations Get personalised news and exciting deals Bookmark the stories you want to read later.
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Already have an account? Sign In. Wish Team India Good Luck! Post Your Wish. Edit Profile. Your Subscription Plan. Cancel Subscription. Saved Articles. My Reads. My Offers. Sign out. HT Premium. Elections HT Insight. My Account. Sign in Register Free and get Exciting Deals. Awed is available on both IOS and Android phones opening more gates for forging new relationships. To add to your experience and to help you make choices, we have introduced the text to voice function for the app. Just type the message and our inbuilt voice will dictate it giving you that added personal touch.To provide you with the best experience, our app is designed with a creative touch and unmatched vibrant visuals. Awed was designed to make online dating and friendships easier. You can check out the features of the app and find people who match your profile for free. The subscription allows you to contact that person and start a conversation. Subscriptions start at 1 month, or 3 months or 12 months. The choice is up to you. We also have text to audio converter. We will be your message-bearers to ensure that whoever you have chosen will start to get the know the real you. Chatting is a really important part of your online experience. Sometimes it is just that one message that makes new friendships. To make your experience easier, you can use our text-to-speech converter for conveying your message to the person you would like to get to know better without any hassle. Download the app now and forge new relationships like never before. Awed - Dedicated Dating App for people living with disabilities. Ready to start your Journey?
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