The popularity of the Twibbon spiked locally following an unfortunate incident that happened at an electronic shop in Jeddah recently involving a handicapped child.

“The shop would not let a mother and her handicapped child in the store because they were afraid his wheelchair wheels would ruin their floors. Dear owner: Meet Twitter,” said Abdelaziz Almarri, referring to the power of the social media site in exposing such behavior. Youtube personality Omar Hussain spoke of this incident on his recent episode on the video-sharing site, asking for an apology from the store in addition to a sum of money to be donated to a special needs organization of the victims’ choice.

This aroused the trend of this particular Twibbon, which started a conversation on both Twitter and Facebook. Exactly how does Saudi Arabia support these individuals? How do restaurants, shops, and other public places meet their needs? The subject needed an awareness boost. Users started by sharing a few suggestions of services that should be implemented for this cause. “Braille language in shops and menus in restaurants, Wheelchair ramps and friendly employees,” suggested @MahaTaher1 “And also medicine!” @NorahAlKasabi added.

Another tweeter suggested the training of employees on ways to deal with those with special needs such as the blind, the deaf, wheelchair users or any other disabilities.

“Dedicate disabled parking spaces reserved for people with special needs,” suggested @hebaalamoudi1.

Tweeters pointed out that our society needs to first understand what defines these individuals and work on our approach toward them as a society as well as setting certain rules and guidelines to every business operation has to follow. “There needs to be a shift in the mindset prior to improving facilities. Respecting others' requirements is a prerequisite,” suggested Twitter user Omar Al-Tamimi. The Young Initiative Group of Jeddah, which consists of a group of volunteers, tweeted: “Legally penalizing business that don't apply the related laws to their stores.”

Mohammad Al-Momen shifted the conversation by stating: “Which facilities? The sad truth is a lot of facilities are bad to use for regular people. God help people with special needs.” Tweeters began building up their enthusiasm toward the subject and suggested they start by asking local restaurants about their special needs facilities. A tweeter then later said that she questioned the manager of “Al-Andalusia” Café and found out it was disabled-friendly: “They have ramps and it's easy for someone on a wheelchair to move.”

It wasn’t long before the discussion continued to Facebook, where users also started commenting on the matter. “Equipped buses first of all. They should not have to rely on family members or friends to get them to places. Make things and places more accessible. Why should anyone have to ask for help whenever they want to reach something or someplace?” stated Soraya Darwish.

“Accessibility everywhere. Start by initiating a regulation that forces architects to make their buildings accessible to those with special needs and the handicapped. Also, provide more centers with assistance for all different ages and needs,” added Moudi Al-Ghoshayan.

However, users did not want to stop there. They agreed on continuing to critique as many public places as they could and to get together to raise awareness on the extreme importance of those services. Their aim is to eventually set mandatory laws for every organization to follow in order to sustain a decent living environment for those with special needs. Which is a perfect example that shows the unbelievable power of a simple Twibbon.