Three Rings, Two College Students and One Big Risk

Meeting someone from a dating app no longer seems like the perilous concept it once did — for most people. The risk assessment was different for Arya Channeng Singh, who was born with spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, a neuromuscular disorder that affects motor neurons and, in her case, requires the use of a wheelchair.

Ms. Singh, 24, connected with Logan Alexander Mundy, 25, on Hinge right before Christmas in 2020, when both were on winter break from their undergraduate studies. She was then a junior at Yale pursuing a degree in the history of science, medicine and public health, while he was a sophomore at Princeton studying politics.

With pandemic safety in mind, Mr. Mundy suggested they meet for an outdoor date in the botanical gardens of Rutgers University, a midpoint between Ms. Singh’s family home in New York City and his in Howell, N.J.

“Keep in mind it was December and the gardens were indeed dead,” Mr. Mundy said. “But I tried to make the best of it. I think it ended up being a spectacular date, despite my poor planning.”

Ms. Singh was actually struck by how well-planned it was. Before meeting, Mr. Mundy acknowledged the wheelchair visible in her Hinge profile and asked if there were any considerations he should make to ensure their date was “‘thoughtful and inclusive of what you need,’” she recalled. “It just felt like the biggest relief of my life.”