More work is required to address negative attitudes towards disability, according to an ESRI study.
The finding comes after 2,000 adults were asked about their opinion by the Economic and Social Research Institute on a range of different disability policies.
They were divided into two groups.
One group was asked directly about their support for policies, while another group could express their opinion more anonymously.
Some people withdrew their support for disability policies when assured of their anonymity, particularly around policies that helped disabled people meet the extra cost of living associated with having a disability.
The study, which was funded by the National Disability Authority, revealed that support for increased social welfare payments for disabled people was lower (66%) when respondents had more anonymity.
It found 77% showed support for increased payments when they were asked directly.
When assured of their anonymity, 1 in 20 drivers admitted to parking in an accessible parking spot without a permit.
Conversely, more anonymity sometimes led to greater support for disability policy.
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The study revealed that more people supported prioritising disabled people for social housing when they were given greater anonymity (71% vs 61%).
This could reflect a preference for people with disabilities compared to others who might compete for limited social housing stock, according to the ESRI.
Anonymity also made a bigger difference to people with higher levels of educational attainment.
The survey 76% supported increased social welfare payments when asked directly, compared to 59% when given more anonymity.
The ESRI said this finding suggests that respondents who are better educated may be more likely to respond to standard surveys in ways that they view are socially desirable.
A second experiment showed that support for disability policies is much lower when questions specify how policies will be funded or potential trade-offs.
There was almost universal support (98%) for children with disabilities to get the support they need using a standard survey question, but this dropped to 85% when the question specified the policy would be funded through budget reallocation.
Support dropped further, to 64%, when the policy was to be funded through a tax increase.
The ESRI said 84% of people said that they supported a proposal to build more wheelchair accessible infrastructure on a standard survey question.
However, when trade-offs were made explicit, such as reducing parking infrastructure or cycling infrastructure, support was lower, at 77% for parking and just 67% for cycling.
Despite differences in support depending on how questions were posed, a highlight from the study was that the majority of people supported most policies that aim to enable disabled people to participate fully in society, even with full anonymity.
Support was stronger among respondents most familiar with disability issues, such as those with lived experience of disability or whose partner or child has a disability.
Dr Shane Timmons, who is the lead author of the report, said the results show that while public support for disability is high, standard surveys may overstate it.
"The link between being close to someone with a disability and support for policy suggests that increasing the inclusion of disabled people in communities and workplaces and informing the public about the challenges of having a disability may improve attitudes to disabled people and supportive policies."
The Director of the National Disability Authority Dr Aideen Hartney, welcomed the research said the findings made it clear that more work needed to be done to address negative attitudes towards disability to achieve equal rights and opportunities for persons with disabilities in Ireland.
