The Outsiders club

Danielle_2022 said:

Hiya @MissMarple,
As with anything, I think there’s a lot of mixed experiences. Still, that’s not to say that it won’t be positive for you! It’s always worth a try because at least then you’ll know. You can always update here afterwards and I’ll do my best to find alternatives, if that would be most helpful

Thanks @Danielle_2022 I'm a bit hesitant about dating. I'd like to make new friends and possibly find someone special, but sometimes I feel that my health wouldn't make it possible to commit to anything. I often have to cancel arrangements or not make plans to begin with because I have no energy. My existing friends are thankfully very understanding, but I'm not sure how to be there for someone new consistently enough to build a relationship.

emilia said:

Hi I'm interested in meeting people but can't seem to get to grips with online dating. If there is a dating group on here I would give it ago. Everyone seems very nice it's good for starters to find other things to know about. I have had no good experiences with dating because I'm not very good at talking to people and sometimes it's too much stress.  is the outsiders club a dating website? 

Unfortunately Scope here doesn't have a dating feature. You are free to chat however, the coffee lounge is good for general chat. Obviously, we don't really know which members are looking for a relationship, their age, location etc. so this method is better suited for making online friends. I am not sure if starting a thread for singles only would be allowed within Scope's community guidelines. Perhaps an admin could advise on that, please? 

According to their website "Outsiders is a social, peer support and dating club, run by and for socially and physically disabled people."
 https://outsiders.org.uk/ It doesn't look like that it's been updated for a while though, that's why I asked for members' experience.

Danielle_2022 said:

Hiya @MissMarple,
Was just wondering if you'd made any progress with this since the last post?

Hi @Danielle_2022 The Outsiders website seems to be under construction (plus given the discouraging experience of others), I didn't try that. I checked out some 'free' disabled dating sites, but all turned out not to be free in terms of you can register for free but to exchange messages with other members you'll need an upgrade. I think if I'm paying for the service anyway, it may be better to register on a generic site with much more members.

I, personally, would prefer a platform where single people could gather and chat without any pressure, form-filling etc. Say, something organised around hobbies, an activity. I know these things are available e.g. on Eventbrite as you mentioned, but those events attract a mixed group of people (rightly so) and it would actually be inappropriate for anyone to try to show interest in anyone else as that's not why people are there, the other person may not be interested in dating at all etc. I think it would be great to have a place where you can go knowing that everyone else there is single and open to meet new people.