Dating with a disability: ableism, sex, dating apps and learning to love single life (Peta Hooke)

It's the end of monsoon season in Mumbai. Bree went to the premiere of Call Me Bae last night. And she's been thinking about a question that's been sitting with her: what is it like when you have never once seen yourself reflected in a rom-com?

That question brought her to Peta Hooke.

Peta is a disability advocate, podcaster, and single woman living with cerebral palsy in Melbourne, Australia. She uses an electric wheelchair and has been navigating dating, ableism, body image, fertility decisions and the complicated business of loving her single life, all while the world largely pretends people with disabilities don't date, don't have sex, and don't deserve to see themselves in the stories we tell about love.

This episode is one of the most honest, important and entertaining conversations in the entire series. It will change how you see single life, dating, representation, and what it actually means to enjoy being on your own, regardless of whether you have a disability or not.

Peta is the creator and host of The I Can't Stand Podcast - the show that answers every question people are too scared to ask about living with a disability. It took her 313 days to be given access to freeze her eggs due to ableism in the medical system. She is not here to be inspirational. She is here to be honest.

In this episode you'll learn:

• What dating with a disability actually looks like: the ableism on dating apps, the assumptions able-bodied people make, and the exhausting work of navigating a world that wasn't built for you
• How growing up without ever seeing yourself in a rom-com shapes your expectations of love, relationships and single life
• The myth that wheelchair users can't have sex
• What Peta wishes able-bodied people understood before dating someone with a disability, the practical advice that changes everything
• The 313-day fight to access egg freezing: what ableism in the medical system looks like when you're trying to make decisions about your own fertility and future
• How Peta's relationship with being single has changed over the years, from grief about the life she hoped for to genuinely loving the life she has
• What single women - with or without a disability - can learn from Peta's experience about self-worth, representation and refusing to make yourself smaller so the world is more comfortable

This episode is for every single woman who has ever felt like she wasn't the person the love story was written for.

Peta Hooke's podcast: The I Can't Stand Podcast - icantstandpodcast.com

Follow Peta on Instagram: @petahooke

Follow Bree on Instagram: @breesteele.mp3

Substack - community + Last Year of Single List here

Listen to the full series (best in order)

Email: lastyearofsingle@gmail.com

Host and Executive Producer: Bree Steele

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