Best questions for citizen survey about accessibility for people with disabilities

Here are some of the best questions for a citizen survey about accessibility for people with disabilities, plus tips to create high-impact questions. You can instantly build your own survey with Specific—it’s quick and powerful.

What are the best open-ended questions for citizen surveys about accessibility for people with disabilities?

Open-ended questions get you real stories, honest frustrations, and unexpected ideas—especially when you want more than just a yes or no. They’re ideal for uncovering the “why” behind opinions, surfacing barriers you didn’t know existed, and collecting actionable testimony. Here are the ten open-ended survey questions we recommend for citizen feedback on accessibility:

1. What are the biggest challenges you or someone you know faces when accessing public spaces in our community?

2. Can you describe a recent experience—positive or negative—regarding accessibility for people with disabilities?

3. Which facilities or locations do you find particularly accessible or inaccessible? Please explain why.

4. How do accessibility barriers affect your ability to participate in community activities or events?

5. What changes would most improve accessibility for people with disabilities in your daily life?

6. What resources or services do you think are missing for individuals with disabilities in our city?

7. How do you usually report or draw attention to accessibility problems? What’s that experience like?

8. In what ways could our local government better support people with disabilities?

9. Are there specific technologies or solutions you wish were available to improve accessibility?

10. Is there anything else you want us to know about accessibility in our community?

With more than 26% of the U.S. adult population living with a disability, open-ended questions like these are crucial for surfacing community-driven insights that statistics alone may overlook. [1]

The best single-select multiple-choice questions for citizen surveys about accessibility for people with disabilities

Single-select multiple-choice questions are great when you need to quantify answers or want to ease respondents in—sometimes picking from a few choices is less overwhelming than writing out a response. They help you spot trends quickly, start the conversation, and can be the launching point for more in-depth follow-up questions. Here are our top examples for a citizen accessibility survey:

Question: How would you rate the overall accessibility of public buildings in your neighborhood?

• Very accessible

• Somewhat accessible

• Not very accessible

• Not accessible at all

Question: Which area do you believe requires the most improvement in terms of accessibility?

• Public transportation

• Parks and recreational areas

• Sidewalks and pathways

• Businesses and shops

• Other

Question: How frequently do you or people you know encounter accessibility barriers in daily life?

• Daily

• Weekly

• Monthly

• Rarely

• Never

When to follow up with “why?” It’s usually best to ask a “why?” follow-up when a choice signals frustration, satisfaction, or surprises you. For example, if someone selects “Not accessible at all,” a follow-up like “Can you share what makes it particularly inaccessible?” lets them elaborate, making their feedback concrete and actionable.

When and why to add the “Other” choice? Add "Other" when possible in structured questions—respondents may have unique perspectives you didn’t consider. This leads to richer data if you follow up (“Please describe the other area you think needs improvement”), and helps expose gaps in your initial assumptions.

Remember: accessibility barriers prevent about 75% of individuals with disabilities from fully participating in community activities, so uncovering the right issues with these question types really matters. [3]

Should you use NPS for citizen surveys about accessibility?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) isn’t just for companies—it works for measuring community sentiment and perceived progress on accessibility. By asking “How likely are you to recommend this city/community as accessible for people with disabilities?” on a 0–10 scale, you get a quick pulse on overall satisfaction. The follow-up (“Why did you choose that score?”) then digs deep into their reasoning, making the feedback immediately actionable. Try generating a tailored NPS survey for citizens about accessibility and see what themes emerge.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions take your survey from surface-level to insightful. Instead of leaving you with vague or confusing responses, they help clarify, expand, and dive deeper—right in the moment. Learn about automated follow-up question features in Specific and see how seamless it can be.

Specific’s survey builder uses AI to ask tailored follow-ups in real time—like a skilled moderator guiding a one-on-one conversation. Respondents feel heard, not interrogated. Instead of chasing unclear answers via email, the survey probes gently, collecting much richer context for analysis.

• Citizen: “I have problems at the train station.”

• AI follow-up: “Could you share what specific challenges you face at the train station?”

Another example:

• Citizen: “Public transportation is bad.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you describe what makes public transportation difficult for you or others you know?”

How many follow-ups to ask? In our experience, 2–3 well-timed follow-ups hit the sweet spot—enough to clarify and expand, but not overwhelm. Specific lets you set the intensity and even skip follow-ups once your core info is captured.

This makes it a conversational survey—your respondents feel like they’re chatting, not filling in forms. It’s comfortable, natural, and breaks down the barriers to honest feedback.

AI survey response analysis, follow-up clustering, qualitative data chat: With Specific, you can easily analyze every response—AI makes sense of the unstructured text, so you don’t have to dig through walls of open-ended answers for meaning.

Automated follow-ups are a new standard in survey conversation—try generating an accessibility survey with follow-ups and see the difference for yourself.

How to prompt ChatGPT (or other GPTs) to generate better citizen survey questions about accessibility

When you want to use ChatGPT or another GPT tool to brainstorm survey questions, good prompts make a world of difference. Try something simple to start:

Ask for general questions:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Citizen survey about Accessibility For People With Disabilities.

It’s always better if you give a bit of context—AI loves detail:

Our community is running a survey to uncover real-world accessibility challenges for people with disabilities. Please suggest 10 open-ended questions that encourage citizens to share both positive and negative experiences.

After you have some questions, organize them:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Then, pick the most relevant categories and dig deeper:

Generate 10 questions for the categories “Public Transportation” and “Community Events”. Focus on specific accessibility barriers.

Add more context, and you’ll see the quality of suggestions improve each time.

If you want a frictionless experience, you can skip the manual prompting and use Specific’s generator for citizen accessibility surveys.

What is a conversational survey (and why use AI for your accessibility research)?

A conversational survey is different from the long, boring, static forms most of us have filled out. In a conversational survey, questions come in chat-style—one at a time—often with thoughtful follow-ups that dig deeper just like an expert interviewer would. Respondents feel relaxed, more honest, and are less likely to abandon the survey halfway.

Compared to traditional surveys, here’s how things look:

Why use AI for citizen surveys? AI makes the process of creating, running, and analyzing surveys vastly more efficient. With an AI survey generator, you can generate, edit (AI survey editor), and analyze responses much faster—and deeper. Explore our AI survey builder or learn how to create a citizen accessibility survey step-by-step.

We’ve designed Specific to deliver best-in-class conversational surveys, making it easy for both you and your respondents to generate meaningful feedback that actually drives improvement.

See this accessibility for people with disabilities survey example now

Get real, actionable insights with a conversational citizen survey that uncovers the accessibility barriers people actually face. Experience industry-leading AI follow-ups and analysis—see how effortless citizen feedback can be.