❤️ PEOPLE CALLED HER HIS NURSE, HIS SISTER, EVEN HIS MOTHER — BUT SHE WAS HIS WIFE

Strangers have called Hannah Aylward his nurse.

His sister.

Even his mother.

But the truth has always been much simpler:

Hannah is Shane Burcaw’s wife. ❤️

Their relationship has become an important reminder that love does not always look the way people expect it to — and that ᴀssumptions about disability can sometimes reveal more about society than they do about the people being judged.

Shane was born with spinal muscular atrophy type 2, a genetic condition that causes significant muscle weakness. He uses a powered wheelchair and requires ᴀssistance with many everyday activities.

For some people, those visible realities became the only thing they could see.

Hannah saw something very different.

💕 IT STARTED WITH A DOCUMENTARY

In 2016, Hannah discovered Shane after watching a documentary about his life and disability.

What caught her attention wasn’t simply his story.

It was his sense of humor.

She decided to send him an email.

There was no dramatic movie moment. No instant fairytale.

Instead, their relationship developed through hours of messages, jokes and FaceTime conversations.

There was just one complication: they lived approximately 1,000 miles apart.

But distance didn’t stop them from getting to know each other.

Eventually, they met in person.

And over time, their friendship became something more.

They fell in love. ❤️

💔 THEN CAME THE ᴀssUMPTIONS

Their relationship quickly exposed an uncomfortable reality.

Some strangers couldn’t understand why Hannah would be romantically interested in Shane.

Instead of seeing two people who had developed genuine feelings for each other, people sometimes tried to place their relationship into categories that felt more familiar to them.

Hannah was ᴀssumed to be Shane’s caregiver.

Others believed she must be his sister.

Some even questioned whether their relationship could possibly be genuine or suggested that Shane was somehow preventing Hannah from living a full life.

But there was a problem with all of those ᴀssumptions:

They weren’t true.

Hannah wasn’t simply someone taking care of Shane.

She was his partner.

His best friend.

And eventually, his wife. ❤️

📹 THEY DECIDED TO SHOW REAL LIFE

Rather than allowing strangers’ ᴀssumptions to define their story, Shane and Hannah began documenting their everyday lives through their YouTube channel, Squirmy and Grubs.

Their videos show the parts of an interabled relationship that people may not always understand.

They travel together.

They joke around.

They experience disagreements.

They navigate accessibility challenges.

They share affection and intimacy.

And yes, Hannah sometimes helps Shane with daily activities such as getting dressed, eating and transferring in and out of his wheelchair.

But they don’t describe their marriage as one person endlessly sacrificing for another.

They describe it as a partnership. ❤️

That’s an important distinction.

Their relationship doesn’t pretend that disability has no effect on their daily lives.

It does.

There are practical challenges that require planning, patience and teamwork.

But those realities don’t erase romance, attraction, companionship or equality.

💍 FOUR YEARS LATER, THEY BECAME HUSBAND AND WIFE

After four years together, Shane and Hannah married on September 4, 2020.

Because of the pandemic, their small backyard ceremony included an officiant participating through Zoom.

It wasn’t necessarily the traditional wedding people might imagine.

But it was theirs. 💍❤️

Their relationship continued to reach people through their online presence, giving millions of viewers an opportunity to see an interabled couple navigating ordinary life together.

In 2025, they published Interabled, expanding the conversation beyond their own marriage and sharing stories from other couples in which one partner has a disability and the other does not.

Their work has helped challenge ᴀssumptions that many people may not even realize they carry.

🌈 DISABILITY DOESN’T CANCEL LOVE

Shane and Hannah have never claimed that disability doesn’t matter.

It does affect their lives.

It influences how they travel, how they handle everyday routines and how they approach many practical aspects of marriage.

What they challenge is something much deeper:

The idea that disability somehow makes romance impossible.

A wheelchair does not determine whether someone can be attractive.

A medical condition does not determine whether someone can fall in love.

And needing ᴀssistance with everyday activities does not mean someone cannot have an equal, meaningful and loving relationship.

Sometimes people see a difference and immediately ᴀssume they understand the entire story.

Shane and Hannah’s relationship offers another perspective.

Love can involve caregiving.

Love can involve accessibility challenges.

Love can involve adaptation and patience.

And none of those things make it less real. ❤️

Their story isn’t about proving that every relationship must look the same.

It’s about recognizing that people deserve the freedom to define their own relationships rather than having strangers define them.

Hannah didn’t see only Shane’s wheelchair.

She saw Shane.

And Shane didn’t need to prove that he was capable of being loved.

He simply found someone who loved him for who he was.

Maybe that’s the lesson worth remembering:

We don’t have to understand every relationship to respect it. 🌈❤️

How many relationships do you think are misunderstood simply because they don’t look the way society expects love to look?

Share your thoughts below. 👇❤️