The online dating scene is hard no matter what traits you're bringing to the table, but a young paraplegic woman is opening up about how taking on Tinder in a wheelchair has it's own set of problems — including men who would disappear as soon as they found out she couldn't walk.

Kristen Parisi, 30, has lived in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, and used Tinder in every city. But she ultimately found that guys on the app were too judgmental of her disability.

'All of that rejection based on being in a wheelchair really messes with your self-confidence,' she told Cosmopolitan.com. 'When I first went on Tinder, I just thought, "OK, I'm a nice person, I'm not bad-looking, I've got a good career", but then I felt like I had to view myself as a disabled person instead.'

Not just her chair: Kristen Parisi, 30, has been in a wheelchair since she was five but lives on her own, travels, and has a successful career in public relations

Not fair: She's dated, too, but recently found that trying to date on Tinder is quite difficult as a paraplegic, because men will judge a wheelchair quickly

Kristen has been paralyzed from the waist down since getting into a car accident when she was five.

She is pretty used to it by now, and has found that it doesn't stop her from having a normal, happy life; she travels, has a good job in public relations, and lives by herself. She has had an active love life, too, mostly dating guys whom she meets in person first.

Like other young women, though, Kristen wanted to give Tinder a try. But while she says she doesn't regret her foray into online dating, it was far from a positive experience.

That's because she found that men tended to vanish on her as soon as they learned she was in a wheelchair — or else would brazenly ask whether her disability prevented her from being sexually active.

Uncool: Kristen said her first date from Tinder was disappointing; they had been talking for two weeks, but the man grew awkward and uncomfortable upon seeing her chair

She still had high hopes when she first downloaded the app — even though she had a hard time deciding how obvious to be about her disability.

Kristin didn't want to spotlight her wheelchair in her photos, since it's not the most important part of her — but she didn't want to feel like she was lying about it, either.

She ultimately settled on using pictures that had her wheelchair in them, but in which it wasn't incredibly apparent. This way, she felt she wasn't being deceptive, but she also gave people a chance to notice other things about her first.

That meant that her first Tinder date ended up being with a guy who didn't know about her disability. They had already talked for two weeks before meeting up, and things seemed to be going well — until they met.

'Once he saw I was in a wheelchair, he immediately wouldn't look me in the eye for the rest of the night and we basically spent the whole date ignoring the elephant in the room,' she said. 'It was the most uncomfortable date I've ever been on and felt really forced.'

Obnoxious: Most men would disappear when they learned she was disabled, but some would ask if she could 'still have sex' first

Finally, at the end of the evening, she addressed the situation, leading the guy to admit that he 'didn't know how to talk to someone in a wheelchair' — despite the fact that they'd been getting on so well in their conversations on Tinder for two weeks.

She pointed out that very fact, then shrugged off his halfhearted offer to 'consider' going out with her again.

After that, Kristen decided to start working her wheelchair into the conversation earlier, telling potential dates about it at different times — first a few days in, then after a week.

No matter when she shared the information, though, the men she was talking to would immediately cut off contact, regardless of how well their conversation had been going before.

And occasionally, they would ask direct, offensive questions first.

'Sometimes they would literally say something like, "Well, can you still have sex?" And I wanted to say, "Of course I can, a*****e,"' she said. 'I seriously can't tell you how many Tinder guys asked me that as soon as I mentioned the wheelchair.'

Not defined by one thing: Kristen didn't want to be obvious about her wheelchair right away, because she didn't want it to be the sole thing men judged her on

Forget it! She found the same results in LA, Boston, and New York City before deleting the app and finding a date offline

She found that she came up against the same reactions across the board, whether she was living in LA, Boston, or New York. Eventually, Kristen became so discouraged that she just deleted Tinder altogether.

Looking back, Kristen said that she doesn't actually have anything against the app. She is back to offline dating, though, and has started seeing a guy she was 'immediately drawn to'.

The real problem, she explained, is the stigma attached to wheelchairs, and the misconception that anyone in them would be dependent on a partner.

'I thought that by trying to let people get to know me before they got to knew I was in a wheelchair was a good plan, because then they'd see that I'm normal,' she said.