People with intellectual disabilities already have their dating app and plans. This is Dinder Club, the first mobile application in the world that has as its target audience this collective (people with Down syndrome or borderline intelligence, to whom it offers a series of social initiatives to enrich their network relational) and which was presented yesterday in society.
The app - which has been operating for just over a month and already has 120 users - has two functions: appointments and plans. In the dating section, the user can find the profiles of other users that the algorithm has considered similar. If two people are interested in getting to know each other, the application generates a chat so that they can start talking and, if there is interest, be able to set up an appointment.
In terms of plans, the platform includes leisure trips of various types (from going to the cinema to going to the bowling alley or attending a football match), where the user can sign up and participate freely. All plans are attended by the figure of a Dinder Club facilitator, who supports the group and the activity.
Montse Lamarca (28 years old) and Héctor Roura (33) are users of Dinder Club (in addition, they have helped develop it). Both explained that, for now, their experience has been "very positive". It turns out that Montse has had a partner for a little over a year, but she wants to use Dinder to "find friendships, go out and talk to people". She has already made a few plans, including going to a Barça women's Champions League match.
For his part, Héctor, who does not have a partner, explains that he has made friends thanks to the plans in which he has already participated. Both of them attended the presentation of the app, which was also attended by Carles Campuzano, Councilor for Social Rights of the Generalitat.
One of the main challenges of its promoters has been to create a safe environment for users, especially considering that the app targets a group with a high risk of suffering abuse in other applications. "These people have had bad experiences in conventional apps, where they have encountered users who have wanted to take advantage of them", pointed out Max Roures, executive director of Dinder.
Thus, a strict procedure for accessing the app has been developed, which has a series of preventive measures and action protocols. To access it, it is necessary to be affiliated with a social entity, through which the registration procedure will be carried out. The process includes a profile test of the potential user and a second questionnaire that assesses their sex-affective knowledge, to generate a safe environment.
In Catalonia alone, there is a group of 27,000 potential users who could benefit from this application.
The project is born from the need, expressed by the collective, to have tools and spaces that facilitate socialization between people with intellectual disabilities so that their inclusion in society is full in all aspects. This was emphasized by Gemma Parcerisa, a psychologist from the AcidH entity, one of the organizations that contributed to the creation of the app, which has seen the light of day after three years of research and development and in which they have collaborated, in addition of AcidH, Dincat Federació, Fundació Aura and Fundació Catalana Síndrome de Down.
For now, the app is available in Barcelona and its metropolitan area. The idea, however, is to expand in Catalonia and, later, in Spain.
Dinder Club also wants to create a headquarters (which could be ready by the end of 2024) to host meetings, plans and offer courses to its members. For now, the app will be free, but the idea is to create a premium version (with a cost of around 90 euros per year) to guarantee its sustainability.
