Interabled Couple Flaunts Their Love & Announces Plans To Have A Baby Together

May 12, 2023 by apost team

YouTube stars Hannah Aylward and Shane Burcaw document everything — from their first date to their everyday lives, the couple is used to sharing almost every part of their relationship. Though there's nothing new about a couple with a YouTube channel, Aylward and Burcaw are unique. The couple is interabled, meaning that one of them is disabled while the other is able-bodied. 

Burcaw has spinal muscular atrophy, and as a result, he is unable to walk or use his arms. His partner, Aylward, is a tall, blonde, athletic type, and she used to be a collegiate swimmer. She has no physical limitations to speak of. 

Though the pairing may seem unlikely, the couple is smitten with one another, and they don't hold back when it comes to sharing their love with their fans on the internet. They even post details about more intimate parts of their relationship, answering questions about sex and how Burcaw's disease affects it. 

Their channel, called Squirmy and Grubs, has over 1.19 million subscribers. But even before their internet fame, Burcaw had already established a media presence. In college, he started a blog called "Laughing at My Nightmare," which gained an impressive following. He later wrote a book about his life with the same title. 

In 2013, "The Office" star Rainn Wilson produced a short documentary about Burcaw. Three years later, in 2016, Aylward was a college student, and she found the documentary online. She emailed Burcaw, and the two began talking to one another all day, every day. The rest, as they say, is history. 

Burcaw published a second book titled "Strangers Think My Girlfriend Is My Nurse" in 2019. In it, he described that despite what others may think, his disability made their relationship stronger. 

 "Because of my disability I'm forced to show vulnerability right away and our relationship is that much more intimate from the get-go," he said. 

That same year, he asked Aylward to marry him. Though Burcaw normally has no qualms about being vulnerable in front of thousands on his YouTube channel, when it was time to ask Aylward's parents if he could marry her, he was terrified. Thankfully, her parents couldn't have been more supportive. Aylward's mom was so happy that she began to cry. 

Burcaw wanted the proposal to be a complete surprise. He waited until they were at a dinner party with Burcaw's family, celebrating her then-recent graduation. He waited for the perfect moment to get her alone, and in the end, Burcaw faked illness to get her alone.

The couple got married in a small ceremony in September 2020, and they wanted everyone to see them as they see themselves — normal. 

Burcaw told PEOPLE "And so we're just trying to show people that our life is normal and silly and fun and disability is a part of it in the ignorance we face, but it doesn't inhibit our life."

Burcaw also published a piece on TODAY titled "6 things I want you to know about our interabled relationship." He listed the points that he wants people to understand about his love for Aylward. He explained, "Because of the widespread and deeply-ingrained misconceptions about disability, people tend to see me as a child, or as someone who could not possibly be involved in a romantic relationship." 

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He also shared an instance, "Hannah and I were once checking out at a liquor store when the cashier said to Hannah: 'Does this big guy want a lollipop?'" He continued: "I spoke up and said, 'Nope, just the beer. Thank you, sir.'"

Burcaw also shared that he wants people to understand that his relationship is not unique and that hundreds of other interabled couples have shared their own stories after watching "Squirmy and Grubs." He said that "the common theme of these messages is simple, yet profound: 'Our relationship feels so normal! Why can’t the rest of the world see that?'"

He addressed another point that many people may wonder about but not vocalize: "Many of our viewers have wrongly assumed that, by being with me, Hannah is signing up for a life of childless celibacy."

In 2023, the couple shared that they were trying to have a child through in vitro fertilization (IVF). In March 2023, the couple said that they would begin their first round of IVF the following month. Like clockwork, Burcaw and Aylward uploaded a YouTube video in April 2023 confirming that they had indeed started IVF.

Burcaw compared IVF treatments to a scenario where your friend approached you in the afternoon and invited you out to go party later that night. At the time, it seemed like fun, but then you start to realize how much time, money and commitment it would actually take. Burcaw described his and Aylward’s current point in the process:

“We are in the taxi on the way to the club, whether we like it or not. Things are happening.”

What do you think about this adorable couple's love story? Let us know, and pass this along to the hopeless romantics in your life!