{"id":20130,"date":"2025-01-16T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T10:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=20130"},"modified":"2025-01-16T10:24:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T10:24:30","slug":"disabled-and-in-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=20130","title":{"rendered":"Disabled and in Love"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Nearly a decade ago, back when platforms like Tumblr still ruled the internet, I stumbled upon a popular blog called \u201cLaughing at My Nightmare<\/a>.\u201d Thus began one of my first parasocial relationships.<\/p>\n

The blog was written by Shane Burcaw, a motivational speaker and manager of his own nonprofit<\/a> who has spinal muscular atrophy \u2014 a disease that significantly weakens his muscles and requires him to use a power wheelchair. It was raw, hilarious and unfiltered, but between the toilet jokes<\/a> and sarcastic armor, he often got vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cMentally and emotionally, I am more than capable of being in a relationship, and that is the problem,\u201d he once wrote<\/a>. \u201cIn my mind, I want to believe that I will eventually find someone, but I realize the chances are slim to none.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was in my 20s at the time, like Shane, and also had a lifelong physical disability, bilateral vocal cord paralysis. I wore a tracheostomy tube to help me breathe. And, like Shane, I often wondered whether I would ever find a partner who loved all of me \u2014 including, not in spite of, my disability.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Little did I know, I\u2019d already met a history major who loved to quote Shakespeare and would eventually become my husband. And in 2016, Shane received an email<\/a> from a nondisabled woman named Hannah Aylward, who had watched a short documentary about his life and had a gut feeling they\u2019d get along.<\/p>\n

They married in September 2020.<\/p>\n

The Burcaws are now well known for their YouTube channel, Squirmy and Grubs<\/a>, where they have documented their relationship for six years. They have more than four million followers across social media and share a passion for disability advocacy and a bone-dry humor. Even through the tough stuff.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n

Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly a decade ago, back when platforms like Tumblr still ruled the internet, I stumbled upon a popular blog called \u201cLaughing at My Nightmare.\u201d Thus began one of my first parasocial relationships.The blog was written by Shane Burcaw, a motivational speaker and manager of his own nonprofit who has spinal muscular atrophy \u2014 a disease that significantly weakens his muscles and requires him to use a power wheelchair. It was raw, hilarious and unfiltered, but between the toilet jokes and sarcastic armor, he often got vulnerable.\u201cMentally and emotionally, I am more than capable of being in a relationship, and that is the problem,\u201d he once wrote. \u201cIn my mind, I want to believe that I will eventually find someone, but I realize the chances are slim to none.\u201dI was in my 20s at the time, like Shane, and also had a lifelong physical disability, bilateral vocal cord paralysis. I wore a tracheostomy tube to help me breathe. And, like Shane, I often wondered whether I would ever find a partner who loved all of me \u2014 including, not in spite of, my disability.Little did I know, I\u2019d already met a history major who loved to quote Shakespeare and would eventually become my husband. And in 2016, Shane received an email from a nondisabled woman named Hannah Aylward, who had watched a short documentary about his life and had a gut feeling they\u2019d get along.They married in September 2020.The Burcaws are now well known for their YouTube channel, Squirmy and Grubs, where they have documented their relationship for six years. They have more than four million followers across social media and share a passion for disability advocacy and a bone-dry humor. Even through the tough stuff.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20132,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20133,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20130\/revisions\/20133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}