³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

It's one of those feel-good red letter days in the calendar, who wouldn't want to attach their brand and their message to the cuddly love filled 14th February? Disability charities are lining up to do so, even though they say disability and love is a taboo subject - humbug.

It's not just florists, card shops and teddy bear vendors vying for your money and attention this week. Here's just a taster of how disability charities are spreading the love on Valentine's Day.

Appy Valentines Day

The Facebook application gets the most modern cute and cuddly award for its social media idea.

Free to download, the app allows you to post a heart-shaped Valentine's card to your loved one's Wall replete with a romantic message and a picture of one of their adorable service dog puppies.

But there's no such thing as a free candle-lit lunch nor, it seems, a free charity eCard. Each one also happens to include a note about Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, who provide service animals to around 775 adults and children in the UK. The job of a hearing dog is to alert their owner to sounds and danger signals such as doorbells and fire alarms.

• and have free eCards too.

Care to dance?

For those not content with virtual romance, there's an opportunity for some face to face action at .

According to the charity's website, the ball is "part of an initiative to promote independence among people with a range of disabilities". But don't let that corporate-speak put you off.

Most importantly to those who might fancy going, it's at Artsdepot in North Finchley from 7.30pm to 11pm on the 14th and there'll be live music, dancing plus Mr and MRS games.

• run by people with learning difficulties, are also running a Valentine's event in London. If you know of others, why not tell us about them in the comments below.

Sweet sweet love

What is Valentine's day, if not an excuse to eat luxury chocolate? We thought young dyspraxic chocolate maker Louis Barnett was the only UK disabled person making a career from cocoa-based comfort food. Then we learned about .

Based in County Down, Northern Ireland, the chocolate factory is a social enterprise run by Autism Initiatives UK and staffed by people who have an ASD - Autism Spectrum Disorder. They do, of course, have a big new range specifically for Valentine's Day.

When a chocolatier at Chocolate Memories completes their training they are then able to produce chocolates to sell and are entitled to proudly place a "carefully made by" sticker, on each of their hand made Belgian chocolate creations, along with their name. Sweet!