Dinder Club, a dedicated dating & social-plans app for people with intellectual disabilities

Ben Schmidt on 31 December 2025

Facilitating safe social, affective and romantic connections for people with intellectual disabilities

Dinder Club is a mobile application designed specifically to support social, friendship, and romantic relationships for adults with intellectual disabilities. The app provides a dual structure: a “dates” section where individuals can connect privately, and a “plans” section where group activities are organized, such as cultural outings, leisure events or social meet-ups, enabling users to meet peers with similar interests.

What distinguishes Dinder Club from conventional dating apps is its commitment to accessibility, informed consent, safety, and the specific social-emotional needs of its users. Access to the app is restricted to people with an intellectual disability (equal or above a defined threshold), who are affiliated to a recognized social entity. Registration involves a validation process (including a “test of affective-sexual knowledge” and user profiling), to ensure that applicants are capable of providing informed consent and understand basic concepts related to intimate relationships.

The application interface is developed with “easy-read / easy-understand” standards (in collaboration with a social-disability federation) to make content and navigation accessible. Plans and activities are accompanied by facilitators, to support participants during social outings, which adds a layer of supervision and support beyond digital connection.

Beyond facilitating connections, Dinder Club frames itself as a social-transformation project aimed at expanding relational opportunities and autonomy for people with intellectual disabilities, addressing the scarcity of safe, adapted spaces for affective and social life in this community.

Characteristics of innovation

Bank of innovations, Disability, Link with the community, Mental health, New service, Personalization of the service, Self-management and participation, User empowerment

Location

Barcelona, Spain

Partners / Founders

Dincat Federació, acidH, Fundació Catalana Síndrome de Down

Genesis

Dinder Club was launched in 2023 by BubbleMeetings SL in Barcelona as a response to expressed needs within the intellectual-disability community for safe and accessible tools to develop social and affective relationships. The app was developed over roughly three years with the active participation of social-disability organisations and potential users. These collaborators helped define accessibility standards, safety protocols, and content and interface design to ensure the platform was appropriate and usable for its target audience.

Level of implementation

By early 2025, Dinder Club reported having reached approximately 700 registered users, marking a substantial growth compared with its initial launch figures. In the first year of operation under the “dating & plans” model, those registrations translated into around 670 mutual matches, which resulted in 83 real-life dates or meetings.

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Aquí la Sole, campaign against youth loneliness

Ben Schmidt on 24 December 2025

A youth-oriented awareness campaign tackling unwanted loneliness in Spain

Aquí la Sole is a social-awareness campaign dedicated to addressing soledad no deseada (unwanted loneliness) among young people. The project uses the figure of “La Sole,” a fictional influencer with a social media presence, to embody the experience of loneliness. Through her Instagram account (@Aquí_LaSole) and multimedia content, the campaign aims to make visible a largely hidden phenomenon: many young people suffer feelings of isolation even when surrounded by others, yet fail to recognize or express this emotional state.

By normalising the conversation around solitude and emotional distress, Aquí la Sole seeks to reduce stigma, encourage self-reflection and offer information and resources to those affected. The campaign provides a directory of support services, including mental health platforms, emotional helplines, and youth-oriented community resources, enabling both young individuals and their social environments (friends, family, educators) to recognize loneliness and respond proactively.

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