A 2,500-strong petition started by an Epsom disability campaigner calls for a dating website to apologise over an “offensive, inappropriate and discriminatory” question used to build profiles of users.

OkCupid asks ‘match questions’ which it uses to pair up users based on their answers.

The site says the system “effectively sorts people by how much you’d like them, and vice versa”.

But Ciara Lawrence-Evans, 36, from Epsom, a campaigns support officer for Mencap, was “horrified” after a friend showed her the question, “Would the world be a better place if people with low IQs were not allowed to reproduce?”

Mrs Lawrence-Evans said: “I was horrified. The question is inappropriate, offensive and discriminatory.

“It reinforces really bad, negative attitudes.”

She has since started a petition calling for the site to apologise. It has been signed more than 2,500 times since last Wednesday.

A spokesperson for OkCupid said: “Our question system is designed to help potential matches understand the interests and values of other users.

“Questions range from mundane to provocative and they specifically allow you to determine your potential compatibility with someone else and to avoid people whose viewpoints you strongly disagree with.”

Josephine Davies from London signed the petition and wrote: “It is ridiculous that in this day and age a company like OkCupid think this kind of discrimination is OK.

“I really don’t know what they were thinking when they wrote this question, but they should damn well think again.”

Mrs Lawrence-Evans was diagnosed with a learning disability at the age of ten, and says her teachers told her she would “never do anything”.

She now works full-time for Mencap, is a trustee at the Sunnybank Trust, an Epsom charity which supports adults and young people with learning disabilities.

Surrey Comet:

She has also been happily married to her husband Mark Lawrence (pictured above) for three years and is a proud aunt to a young niece and nephew.

At Mencap, Mrs Lawrence-Evans works to provide information and advice for people with a learning disability.

She said: “It would be really good to see positive portrayals of people with learning disabilities in the media.

“I think society doesn’t understand what people (with a learning disability) can do.

“And it would just be good for OkCupid to understand they are categorising people and they need to understand that it is offensive.”

To sign Mrs Lawrence-Evans’ petition, visit www.change.org

What do you think? Comment below, or get in touch at craig.richard@london.newsquest.co.uk