Limitless Love | Cap on love with a disability

Mylene is 39 years old. A self-confessed “cheesy romantic”, she is looking for a soul mate. To achieve this, she uses the services of Rencontreadapte, an agency specializing in clients with disabilities. His approach is depicted in limitless love, a new documentary series from Canal Vie.

Before continuing, let’s point out one thing: Mylène uses a wheelchair. Like the other “different” singles featured on the show, her quest is complex, but perfectly legitimate.

Aired last week, the first episode exposed the obstacles that stand in the way. Mylène lives in an establishment that hires attendants to help her get dressed, go to the bathroom, wash herself and prepare her meals. She receives services there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In this first half hour, we also met Nicolas, a friendly 28-year-old guy with Down syndrome, who wants to meet “a girl who likes to sing and go to the movies”. The second episode will show her first date with Carolanne, a “smart, flirtatious and punctual” suitor, in her own words. Then, we will meet Matthy, a 33-year-old homosexual activist, very present on TikTok, who has “never really been in a relationship” because he believed that he was “not enough” to be loved.

“For some, it has always been a dream to find love,” explains director Maude Sabbagh (Facing the street, Coming out stories). They all have different challenges. But their common denominator is that they want — and especially the right — to find love. That’s what touched me. You may have physical or cognitive limitations, for love there is no limit. That’s what we’re trying to demonstrate with this series. »

“By registering with the agency, they grant themselves the right to love and be loved,” she continues. These are people who often thought they weren’t worth it. And no one should feel inadequate. »

“We broke down doors”

The series project limitless love originated last spring when the leaders of Urbania (In the Shadow of the Star Wars Kid, What families!) met Darlène and Vanessa Lévesque, the co-founders of the Rencontreadapte agency. Respectively supervisor at Groupe AFFI, an adapted company, and auxiliary in health and social services, they were at the forefront of the socialization needs of people with limitations. Urbania’s proposal was simple: film the activities of the company, the first in Quebec to offer this kind of service.

“We had already been approached for other projects of the genre, but this time, it was different, tells us Darlène Lévesque in an interview. They really believed in our project. They loved our mission. »

The entrepreneurs were all the more affected because a few years earlier, when they were trying to set up the agency, their initiative had aroused very little interest from decision-makers. “We broke down doors,” says Darlène. We applied for financial assistance, we made all sorts of approaches, but people didn’t want to know. We got turned around often… enough to discourage us, but never enough to let go. »

need light

limitless love is not reserved exclusively for people with disabilities. Mylène also stated this in front of Maude Sabbagh’s lens last Monday: “Just because you’re in a wheelchair doesn’t mean you want to match with someone like us. The proof: in the third episode, the young woman will have dinner with Bram, a man who is not handicapped, at least physically. Victim of a post-traumatic shock, he suffers from an “invisible handicap”.

Maude Sabbagh and her team followed Mylène, Nicolas, Matthy and company for six months before giving birth tolimitless love. Filming wrapped earlier in November. The first season shows couples forming and, at times, breaking up.

In an interview, the documentary filmmaker describes the series as her favorite project.

It should be noted that the series spends very little time brushing up on the handicap of the participants. For example, we had to check Matthy’s YouTube channel to learn he had a rare form of dwarfism. “The focus is really the quest for love, explains Maude Sabbagh. I wanted us to discover their challenges organically. One does not need to know their disability in detail to follow their story. »

A trend

The entry into the airwaves oflimitless love precedes by a few months that ofWhat if it was you?, another Quebec documentary series involving people struggling with different disorders. Hosted by Varda Étienne, this Pixcom production (Autistic, coming of age soon, Indefensible) is set to land on AMI-tv in February. Internationally, let us mention The Undateables (Channel 4 in the UK) and Love on the Spectrum, on autism, on Netflix. “It was time that we took an interest in people who live with challenges that are different from ours,” underlines Maude Sabbagh.

Channel Life presents limitless love Mondays at 7:30 p.m.