- Does anyone else with a sibling
with a disability have this conversation a lot?
- Sheena, how can I find someone to go on a date with?
- Wait, I should start from the beginning.
This is me and my little brother Sean.
Ever since he came along, he was my best bud
and I just wanted to take care of him.
Before he turned one, we found out
that he had cerebral palsy, but to me
he was always just Sean.
So we were like any other pair of siblings.
And for a while there really got at each other.
(click)
But I swear, now we get along much better.
So my brother has cerebral palsy and a lot
of things in life are a little more challenging for him.
One of those things is dating
but I decided I'm going to sit down and talk
to him about dating and then I'm going to find him a date.
(electronic beats)
So first I asked him, why is it important for him to date?
- I feel lonely.
I want to be with someone.
I try my best and asking my friends
like if they want to go on coffee dates.
- Mhm.
It's hard to know who to ask out.
And when you just have things
in common and when you're just friends
and when it's a genuine connection that could turn
into something more romantic.
But I feel like it's easier
for people who have no disability at all.
Like you, for example.
Me, I try and asking my crush in middle school.
It was the junior-senior dance.
She stood me up.
I think that's hard for me to find someone
because my disability.
People just look at me weird.
My walking, my talking.
I feel like they say,
"I don't like, I don't want to go out with that."
I just wish people more flexible.
- So what kind of stuff would you want to do
if you got a girlfriend?
(electronic beats)
- I would want to do hand gliding.
(laughing)
- I'm talking about just like everyday stuff.
- Okay.
Stuff like going on the treadmill, working out.
- You guys are both going to be on one treadmill
at the same time?
- Yeah
Singing, playing video games.
Playing board games, watching movies.
Going out.
- Other than the treadmill part,
all those sound like really fun date ideas.
- Yeah.
- How about we find you a date?
- Yay.
- Since we are in the time of COVID,
we are going to be looking
for a virtual date, right?
And I will be using the power
of the internet to find this lady.
So I'm going to take a few notes on what we are looking for
and what you want to share about yourself.
So how would you describe yourself?
- Funny, creative and outgoing.
- Yes. Very true.
What is something else that you want people
to know about you?
- My shirt business.
- Of course.
Should we show people?
- Yeah.
- Let's see your shirt.
- Ta-da! - All right.
So this is ink man. - Yeah.
- And you have a few different designs that you've drawn?
(popping)
And where did these come from?
These characters?
- I just thought of them.
My imagination.
- And where can we find your art and your t-shirts?
- On my Instagram page.
- I think I have enough information now to scour the web
and see if I can find a lovely lady
for you to go on a virtual date with.
- Awesome.
(sentimental piano music)
Sean has been wanting a girlfriend for ages.
Like he has been talking about wanting to go
on dates and meet someone for so long.
He just wants to experience romance
and love and not unrequited love.
We all just want to be loved and to love, right?
And I sure hope he finds that one day.
And in the meantime, I'm going to do what I can to help.
Okay, Sean.
I have found a few lovely ladies who are interested
in going on a virtual date with you and we're going to look
through them and you're going to choose one.
- Okay.
Option number one, she's looking
for a long-term relationship
with someone who she can be comfortable around
who is her best friend, and they can have fun together.
And number two, she plays the keyboard, plays video games.
Likes to go on hikes.
This is our final option.
She is looking for a man who is kind
and is able to get her out of her shell a bit.
She loves movies and going to concerts.
Want to see more about her?
- Yeah.
- Hi, I'm Melissa.
I live outside of Pittsburgh, PA
and my hobbies are I like reading and watching TV
and jigsaw puzzles.
- Yeah.
- Is she your winner?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
- Yes.
- All right.
We will be setting you up on a date with Melissa.
- Yay.
- [Sheena] Hey bud, you excited for your date today?
- Yeah.
- [Sheena] Then let's get ready.
- Hi.
- Hi, nice to meet you.
How are you?
- Oh I'm good, how are you?
- Good.
- Okay, I'm sitting in the other room
and I'm so nervous for him.
She seems very high functioning and maybe even neuro-typical
with just some physical disabilities.
And that's something that's really interesting about CP is
that CP is a very kind of umbrella term,
where there are a lot of variations
in what CP can look like.
So some people just have a little bit
of a waddle in their walk and some muscle weakness
but they're totally neuro-typical.
Some people are very severely disabled
and need 24/7 care and can't really do much on their own.
So Sean falls kind of in the middle of everything.
And that's why he can be so tricky, I think,
when it comes to dating and finding a partner
because a lot of the people he knows kind of fall
on either one end or the other.
He just needs to find someone
that will love him for who he is.
And it's not about the disability, right?
It's just about finding someone who intellectually
can match him in a fun way.
We'll see how this goes.
How did it go?
- It went really well,
but I want to keep as friends
because she lives too far away.
And I don't want to move there.
- [Sheena] Yeah. That makes sense.
Well, I'm glad you had fun though.
And it sounds like you made a new friend.
- Yay.
I'm so excited to see who else is out there.
And I want to keep on dating.
- So ladies, if he's your type
I am still down to match-make.
So hit us up.
Also, if anyone else knows other ways to meet people
for people like Sean,
let us know.
(happy guitar music)