What a Simple Social Media Poll Series Taught Me About Disability Awareness

 A few weeks ago, I started what I thought would be a fairly straightforward social media series for a disability inclusion NGO.

The idea was simple.

Every few days, we'd post a poll under the theme "Let's Break Myths." The questions weren't designed to trick people. They reflected common misconceptions we encounter every day.

Questions like:

• Is physical disability the biggest barrier a person faces?
• Can people with intellectual disabilities make their own decisions?
• Does disability automatically limit someone's ability to work, learn, or participate?

The intention wasn't to test intelligence. It was to gently challenge assumptions. If anything, the title itself was a clue—the "myth" would probably be the incorrect answer.

Given that these polls were posted on an NGO page that has spent years running disability awareness campaigns, I assumed the responses would reflect the collective learning of the follower community.

I was wrong.

The results were surprising—almost unsettling. The first surprise was that the polls attracted more participation from non-followers than from existing followers. Social media had pushed the content beyond our regular audience, which was encouraging.

But the second surprise was harder to process. Many long-time followers, the people who had likely seen many of the NGO's awareness posts, campaigns and stories, still selected answers that reinforced disability stereotypes.

And then came the biggest surprise. Some respondents who themselves identified as persons with disabilities also chose those same stereotypical answers.

That made me stop.

It made me realize something I hadn't fully understood before.

That disability education is not something most of us ever formally receive.

Not in school.
Not in college.
Not in workplaces.
And often, not even within disability communities.

I assumed that awareness naturally accumulates through exposure. Wrong. Because exposure is not the same as education.

Take one of the questions: Is physical disability a barrier? Many respondents chose "Yes."

But disability rights have long shifted away from that understanding.

The wheelchair is not the barrier. The staircase is. The inaccessible bus is. The building without a lift is. The hiring manager who assumes inability is.

The barrier is often the environment—not the person.

Similarly, when asked whether people with intellectual disabilities can make decisions, many answered "No." Yet with appropriate support, accessible communication and respect for autonomy, many people with intellectual disabilities can and do make choices about their education, work, relationships and daily lives.

What our polls revealed wasn't ignorance. It revealed how deeply society has internalized these myths, through conditioning and reinforcement rather than through malice or ignorance.

And that's when the poll series stopped being just a social media activity. It became a mirror.

If people who voluntarily follow disability organisations still struggle with these concepts, what happens with everyone else?

If adults continue to carry these misconceptions, should we introduce disability as a part of human diversity earlier in life? Should disability education become part of school curricula as a life skill or part of Moral Science, alongside empathy and social responsibility? Shouldn't children learn disability etiquette the same way they learn road safety or environmental awareness? Should workplaces invest in disability literacy before launching diversity celebrations? Can social media, with its fleeting attention spans, ever replace structured education? Or is it only the starting point for a much larger conversation?

I don't have answers to these questions. In fact, a series of simple polls has left me with more questions than conclusions.

But perhaps that's the point.

Sometimes the most valuable outcome of communication isn't confirming what we already know. It's revealing what we don't.

Because until we understand where the gaps truly are, we will keep making assumptions. And those assumptions will more often than not be myths rather than facts.

Maybe then, we should rethink disability inclusion. Let's not begin with ramps or policies. Let's begin much earlier—with what we teach our children and what we choose to believe as adults.

Disability awareness is a life skill.

And judging by those poll results, it's one skill we still have a long way to learn.