Differently-abled persons leave matrimonial search to kin: Study

A majority of differently-abled people in Mumbai are too inhibited to search for marital partners and leave it to their families to find a spouse, suggest trends seen on a widely-used matrimonial forum. According to a city-wise analysis on partner preferences among the differently-abled registered on a marriage portal, majority of the profiles from the city had been created and managed by the candidates' families.

A majority of differently-abled people in Mumbai are too inhibited to search for marital partners and leave it to their families to find a spouse, suggest trends seen on a widely-used matrimonial forum. According to a city-wise analysis on partner preferences among the differently-abled registered on a marriage portal, majority of the profiles from the city had been created and managed by the candidates' families.

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A total of 2,235 profiles of differently-abled people were analysed across eight cities, of which Mumbai's profiles constituted six per cent (134). Only 31.1% of the differently-abled had created their own profiles, while 68.9% profiles were created and managed by the families of the candidates. Of the city’s total profile database, the physically-challenged constitute 6%, of which 74% are male profiles.

“While most of the youth in the country depend on their parents to find them a partner, for the differently-abled there are further inhibitions since they do not think they can find someone because of their disabilities. They hence leave it to their parents,” said Sushmeeta Bubna, founder of Voice Vision, a non-profit that works for the differently-abled. “We had recently organised an event where the differently-abled could come together to meet prospective partners on their own instead of depending on their families,” she said.

The percentage of self-created profiles was low in the city compared to other cities such as Delhi (81%) and Bangalore (65.8%).
The city’s fast-paced life was one reason cited for the trend. “In a fast-paced city like Mumbai, the youth usually don’t have the time to go through the search process. In such a situation, parents take up the responsibility of finding their children a good match,” said Gourav Rakshit, chief operating officer, Shaadi.com.