Disabilities

This topic helps students explore accessibility, inclusion, and how communities support people with disabilities. These questions range from personal experiences to broader discussions about design, technology, and social attitudes.

Questions are organized by level from beginner to advanced. A printable PDF of all the questions is available at the bottom of the page.

Beginner (A1-A2)

1. What are some common disabilities? Do you know anyone who has one?
2. Do you know a person with a disability? Tell me about them.
3. What are three things that can make buildings easier for people with disabilities to use?
4. Do you see special parking spaces for people with disabilities where you live? Where are they?
5. What kinds of jobs can people with disabilities do? What’s a good example?
6. Do you know any sign language? What can you say?
7. What sports can people with disabilities play? Do you know any famous athletes?
8. Are there special buses or trains for people with disabilities in your city? What do they look like?
9. What tools or technology help people with disabilities? What’s a good one you know about?
10. Have you ever seen a guide dog? Where was it?

Elementary (A2)

1. How does the government in your country help disabled people?
2. What kinds of disabilities do people develop as they grow older? Has this happened to someone you know?
3. What did you learn in today’s class about people with disabilities?
4. Have you ever helped a person with a disability? What did you do?
5. If a new student in your class used a wheelchair, what could you do to make them feel welcome?
6. Have you ever used a wheelchair or crutches? What was it like?
7. What buildings or places in your city are difficult for people with disabilities to use? Why?
8. What sports equipment is designed for people with disabilities? How does it work?
9. What is something you have learned about people with disabilities that surprised you?
10. Have you ever tried to use your phone or computer without looking at the screen? What happened?

Intermediate (B1)

1. How are disabilities viewed in your country?
2. Have you ever seen a person with a disability be excluded or treated unfairly? What happened?
3. What TV shows or movies have characters with disabilities? What did you think of them?
4. Would you feel comfortable asking a person with a disability if they need help? Why or why not?
5. Do you prefer saying ‘disabled people’ or ‘people with disabilities’? Why?
6. What is the most important thing a school can do for students with disabilities? Why?
7. What did your school teach you about people with disabilities when you were younger? Was it enough?
8. Do you think employers should be required to hire a certain percentage of people with disabilities? Why or why not?
9. Should all public buildings be required to have ramps and elevators? Why or why not?
10. If you could change one thing about your city to make it more accessible, what would you change and why?
11. How do you think schools should support students with learning disabilities? What works best?
12. Some people say that having a disability makes a person stronger. Do you agree with this idea? Why or why not?
13. Do you think people treat someone differently after they find out that person has a disability? How so?
14. What do you think is harder for people with disabilities — the physical challenges or the way other people treat them? Why do you think so?
15. If a friend told you they had an invisible disability — something you cannot see, like chronic pain or anxiety — how would you respond?
16. When someone uses a wheelchair or a cane in public, how do people around them usually react? What do you think about that?

Upper-Intermediate (B2)

1. How can our world become more inclusive and equal for people with disabilities?
2. How do we stop the idea that people with disabilities should be pitied and instead see them as equals?
3. Why do you think people with disabilities have experienced discrimination and abuse, both in the past and still today?
4. Why did it take so long for governments to make laws giving rights to people with disabilities?
5. How do you think people with disabilities are treated differently in rich countries versus poor countries? Give me some examples.
6. How has social media changed how people with disabilities share their experiences? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?
7. How has technology changed employment opportunities for people with disabilities? What are the biggest benefits, and what barriers still remain?
8. Compare how people with disabilities are portrayed in movies today versus 30 years ago. What has changed and what hasn’t?
9. What are the advantages and disadvantages of separate schools for children with disabilities versus inclusive classrooms?
10. How do economic downturns affect government support for people with disabilities? How often do you notice these programs being cut or protected?
11. What are the implications of using artificial intelligence to screen job applicants for companies trying to hire more people with disabilities?
12. How is accessibility different in urban versus rural areas — in things like transportation, employment, and social life?
13. How do you think growing up with a disability affects a child’s friendships and social life? What could schools do to help?
14. Many buildings and websites are still not accessible to people with disabilities, even though laws require it. Why do you think progress has been so slow?
15. People with invisible disabilities — like chronic pain, anxiety, or learning differences — often hear ‘But you don’t look sick.’ How does this kind of comment affect them, and why do people say it?
16. When companies promote their accessibility features or hire people with disabilities for advertising campaigns, how do you tell the difference between genuine inclusion and marketing?

Advanced (C1)

1. Some people with disabilities say they don’t want to be ‘fixed’ or ‘cured’ — they just want equal access. How does this perspective challenge the way most people think about disability?
2. The disability rights movement uses the phrase ‘Nothing about us without us.’ How has this idea changed the way disability policy is made, and where does it still fall short?
3. Some Deaf communities argue that deafness is not a disability but a cultural identity with its own language and traditions. How does this challenge the way society defines disability?
4. Advances in genetic testing now allow parents to screen for certain disabilities before birth. How does this technology create tensions between medical progress, personal choice, and disability rights?
5. In many countries, people with disabilities are more likely to live in poverty. What connections exist between disability, education, employment, and economic inequality — and how do these factors reinforce each other?
6. Society often frames people with disabilities as either ‘inspirational heroes’ or ‘helpless victims.’ How do these two narratives limit the way people with disabilities are actually seen and treated?
7. Many cities are redesigning public spaces to be more accessible, but some of these changes — like removing stairs or adding audio signals — change the experience for everyone. How does designing for disability end up reshaping how all people use public spaces?
8. Families who care for a member with a severe disability often face enormous financial, emotional, and social pressures — but caregiving is rarely treated as ‘real work’ by society or governments. Why does this gap exist, and what would it take to close it?
9. What tensions exist between protecting people with intellectual disabilities from exploitation and respecting their autonomy in making decisions about work, relationships, and finances?
10. The words used to describe disability keep changing — from ‘handicapped’ to ‘disabled’ to ‘differently abled’ and beyond. How does the language a society uses to talk about disability actually shape the way people with disabilities are treated in workplaces, hospitals, and schools?

PDF: Download a PDF of all the questions