It’s a few minutes before showtime and I can’t help but turn in my seat and observe the diverse crowd making their way up the theatre steps in room 502 of the School of Visual Arts, NYC. Some guests are tucking crutches under their seats, while others park electric mobility devices into a few remaining spots up front. Much like myself and good friend Sophie, they’ve come here tonight to see a screening of the first documentary of its kind to take on the taboo subject of romantic relationships within the disabled community. This is the first time we’re being represented on the big screen by peers speaking openly on what it’s really like to experience dating, love, and sex in a disabled body.

Director and producer Ben Duffy taps directly into the human heart with a compelling new film that fundamentally changes the way our culture views unconditional love, disabled or not. Beautifully captured and interwoven, Duffy reveals the stories of 17 unique individuals across the US while shedding light on their real-life triumphs and defeats with dating, intimacy, and parenthood. This cast, including a quadriplegic rock climber, a paraplegic dancer, and a one-legged skateboarder, powerfully carries the film’s universal message: we are all seeking and worthy of our own beautiful love stories.

“Being a quadriplegic doesn’t stop me. Being paralyzed doesn’t stop me from being in a relationship or being physical, or making love if I’m with the right person. Because if I’m with the right person, I don’t feel like I’m paralyzed.”, Angela Rockwood

Scene after scene, the documentary lifts societal veils and forces us all to confront our own insecurities, many of which seem to pale in comparison to those on screen.

“I put myself in the chair online because that’s who I am. Going through profiles, a lot of them say, under 6’, swipe left… I’m like 4’3 sitting in the chair… how am I supposed to compete with that?”

Patrick Ivision delivers his witty perspective on dating apps and continues: “One thing I think about often is having kids… that scares me. I’ve never, not one time, seen someone on screen, or in any type of media, that’s a parent.”

The film’s next scene opens with quadriplegic Stephen Whampler kissing his wife and children goodbye before setting off to become the first man with Cerebral Palsy to summit Mt. Yosemite. Once again, our preconceived notions of the human body and parenthood are stripped away to reveal a level of unconditional love we can only hope for.

Even as someone who has lived their entire life with a disability, I noticed some of my own assumptions surfacing throughout the film. But if there is one thing this movie teaches us, it is that curiosity about disability is human nature.

Angela Rockwood and her boyfriend Steven Profeta address that curiosity directly as they share their own intimate logistics. “I needed to learn how to use her body,” says Profeta. “Put aside all the stereotypes and rules of the world you know, because you’re entering another world now.”

The film takes us into another world, one that is reality for 1 billion people living globally with some form of disability.

The final scene fades to black. Credits roll. The room brightens. Sophie and I clap along with the audience until our hands sting, then check each other’s faces for running mascara. I lean in to tell her: everyone needs to see this movie. We need to host our own screening.

Please join the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation and BioNews Services for the final screening of Take A Look At This Heart at the Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC, on Friday, February 8th at 6:00 PM. Wear red or pink in honor of Valentine’s Day.

View event details and tickets on Eventbrite.