Cat Fribley

As we mark Invisible Disability Awareness Week during Birdability Week 2025, it’s crucial to acknowledge and celebrate the many birders with disabilities that may not be immediately visible. Invisible disabilities like chronic pain, mental health conditions, neurodivergence, sensory sensitivities, and autoimmune disorders can vary dramatically from person to person. They may also change for each individual from year to year, day to day, or even minute to minute. At Birdability, we know how essential it is to create inclusive spaces that honor these dynamic needs and define disability to mean EVERY BODY.

In 2020, Birdability asked birders across the country to share their experiences: what draws them to birds, what gets in the way, and what makes birding possible. The responses revealed not only the deep joy, community, and healing that birding provides, but also the barriers that continue to prevent many people from fully belonging in outdoor spaces. Birdability is excited to launch a new point-in-time survey to understand how access to birding has changed since our original 2020 Birders’ Survey. That first survey illuminated both the joy of birding and the barriers that keep too many people from belonging. From uneven trails and lack of seating to communication and social barriers, birders named what gets in the way and also what makes participation possible. Five years later, we want to know: has anything shifted? Which access features are improving, and where are barriers still holding people back?

Each fall since 2020, Birdability Week has brought our community together to celebrate belonging, access, and joy in birding. This fifth annual Birdability Week marks a milestone: more than 25 sponsoring organizations and individuals have joined us this year to make this celebration possible. Our community, our impact, and our work continue to grow, and we are filled with deep gratitude for every partner who helps us make it happen.

Birdability’s mission to mak

At the close of Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month, we are honored to share that Birdability has been awarded a Creating Opportunities & Independence grant from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, beginning November 1. This award will expand our Birdability Outreach Program to bring birding into rehabilitation hospitals and outpatient programs for people with spinal cord injuries. Through tailored programming, adaptive equipment, and local partnerships, birding will support healing, joy, and belonging for participants while challenging systemic barriers to outdoor access. We are deeply grateful to the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation for their legacy of work for people living with SCI, and for believing in Birdability’s vision that birding is for every body and every mind.

September is National Guide Dog Month, a time to recognize the extraordinary partnership between service dogs and their handlers. These highly trained animals are not pets; they are essential working partners who perform critical tasks that support independence, safety, and access for people with disabilities. To help with making sure that our bird outings are able to meaningfully include service dogs and their handlers, we’ve created a new resource: Considerations for Incorporating Service Dogs into Accessible Bird Outings. This guide offers practical information for event organizers, volunteers, and birders alike.

Bird blinds can offer a quiet space for observation and reflection, where birds feel safe and people feel immersed in nature. But like many outdoor infrastructure features, bird blinds are often designed without disabled folks in mind. Everyone should have access to meaningful birding experiences. That includes the joy of tucking into a quiet blind and watching a warbler flit across the brush or the patient pause before a wood duck finally comes into view. When designed with access in mind, bird blinds can provide shelter, a sense of privacy, and connection to the landscape for birders of all bodyminds.

Access is not just about trails and terrain. For many birders with disabilities and other health concerns, access also means having the right tools such as mobility scooters, rollators, binocular stands, communication boards, fidget tools, and more, to participate fully and joyfully in outdoor spaces. That is why we are thrilled to share our newest resource: Adaptive Equipment for Birding Loaner Closets: A Practical Guide This guidance document is intended for parks, nature centers, birding clubs, and outdoor organizations seeking to create truly welcoming spaces.

On May 18, 2025, more than 200 birders, all of them legally blind, stepped outside or found an open window and tuned in. They were listening for birds. They were also listening for connection, joy, and community. Together, they participated in the first ever Blind Birder Bird-a-Thon, an event envisioned and led by blind birders Jerry Berrier, Donna Posont, and Martha Steele in partnership with Birdability.

In Virginia, an exciting effort is underway to make birding and wildlife viewing more accessible to people with disabilities and other health concerns. Through a collaboration between the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and Virginia Master Naturalists (VMN), volunteers across the state are assessing accessibility features at sites along the Virginia Bird and Wildlife Trail (VBWT) and entering that information into the Birdability Map. The project is both a celebration of community-led accessibility work and a model for other states interested in doing comprehensive planning for similar site assessments.

As May draws to a close, so does Mental Health Awareness Month, but the conversations we’ve had, and the healing connections we’ve built, are far from over. With support from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, we marked this month with an important webinar: Accessible Birding for Mental Health. We’re thrilled to share that the full recording is now available to watch on YouTube with panelists Eric Clow, Elizabeth Monje, and Tammah Watts.