B.C. developer creating app to help disabled and neurodivergent people connect

A Victoria-based web developer is creating an app for disabled and neurodivergent people to connect, meet and date.

Christie Faye Collins says the app, called NOMI, fills the need for an online space in which people with a disability, for example, can find a partner or friend.

"I want it to be the main app that disabled folks turn to in order to make up for the superficiality and lack of representation in mainstream dating apps," Collins, who has autism, told CBC's All Points West.

"The premise is that disability and neurodivergence is centred and celebrated and the default is disability or neurodivergence, rather than able-bodiedness and neurotypicality like it is in the mainstream dating apps."

Collins said she hasn't had a wonderful experience using dating apps.

"There's no opportunity to really find the humanity of people if you're just looking at photos of face after face and swiping," she said.

She said community is top of mind with NOMI and she has a vision that it will eventually offer workshops and an option for users to form groups with people in their area.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic underscored that need for community and played a big role in the creation of the app, she added.

"I know how important community is for me and how essential it is for me to surround myself with other neurodivergent people who understand my experience," she said.

"I think we realized once the pandemic started how much isolation affects everyone, and especially if you factor in disability." 

Registered psychologist Laura Turnbull agrees that being neurodivergent can be very isolating and says the app is a great idea.

"You don't have to mask yourself or pretend that you're someone else and you don't have to worry so much about how you're going to be perceived by other people because that other person has the same experience," said Turnbull, who has ADHD.

Turnbull says they met their wife, who also has ADHD, on a dating app.

"I got lucky, I was using dating apps back when OkCupid was really detailed and you could write really long posts about yourself," they said.

Collins said NOMI, which is still in the development stage, might resemble other traditional dating apps such as Hinge but will be "highly accessible."

Right now she is looking for other people to get involved, including independent investors and people to help her refine the design. She's encouraging anyone who has feedback to help make the app as accessible as possible to contact her.

"So, anyone who comes from the experience of being neurodivergent or disabled, I would love to collaborate with anyone who comes from that background," she said.