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Day-to-day life as an autistic person can be unpredictable.  I often feel unbalanced.  Birds connect me to the world.  Yet, when I’m birding, everything holding me down feels less weighty, like being buoyant in salt water.  The connection provides relief from isolation, and the weightlessness quiets anxiety and uncertainty. I’m both grounded and untethered in a fleeting moment of bird-human-nature encounter.

There has been speculation on social media, via email, and in presentations. So, to celebrate one year of Birdability becoming a non-profit, it’s time to get to the bottom of this burning question. Why is a White-breasted Nuthatch Birdability’s logo?

My love of bird watching has always been paired with my desire to illustrate them. But behind my love of birds was always the pestering problem of my color blindness. As a whole, “color blindness” is a pretty vague term to a not uncommon condition. Worldwide about 7% of men and .05% of women have some form of colorblindness. Simply put it’s the inability to distinguish certain colors.

Braille is super cool. A tactile code (not a language of it’s own), it is used to write languages from English to Arabic so people who are blind or have low vision can read. We love seeing braille used labelling diagrams on interpretive signs; labelling trail maps; an in booklets visitors to natures centers and parks can borrow, so braille readers can access the same information on interpretive signs that sighted visitors can.

Birding has been central to my sanity. Whenever I felt overwhelmed or frustrated, I made the time to go birding. Unfortunately, even this relaxing activity is not immune to my struggles with hearing loss. When I am birding in a group I am met with phrases like, “Get your ears checked.” Or, “Are you stupid? Why can\’t you understand me?” when I ask someone to repeat themselves. I find these events to be more frustrating than they are worth, so I rarely interact with other birders.

Wow! What a blast. Birdability Week 2021 was even more exciting and empowering than our first Birdability Week last year. From amplifying the experiences of birders with access challenges, to helping more folks feel like part of the birding community; from sharing about the features of a truly accessible trail, to learning important lessons on respectful collaboration. We even continued to redefine birding! There were a lot of wonderful learning opportunities, too, some recorded here in case they’re of value to you, too.

My brother Gidon is three and a half years older than me. He started birding just before I did – we were both under 10. Thanks to his infectious enthusiasm about wildlife and birding, my childhood growing up in Jerusalem was all outdoors. In 2015 Gidon was diagnosed with a horrible, terminal neurodegenerative disease, ALS. (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.) His disease develops in a medium, steady pace. For Birdability Week, organized by Birdability, I want to share here the inspiring story of my brother Gidon.

There are so many ways to enjoy wild birds, and we want to encourage every body to get involved! Birding by looking out your window or enjoying birds from you backyard is a wonderful way to get involved. Some folks like making things; some folks are kids! During Birdability Week 2021, two of our Birdability Captains created a bird-related craft activity. Even better, both of the activities were designed to help welcome birds to your backyard and keep them safe. Enjoy!

Organizing a Big Sit on the occasion of Mass Audubon’s Bird-a-thon this year was an incredible learning experience for me. It turns out that being intentionally inclusive is even more rewarding than I’d thought it could be! I thought it would be great to reflect on the lessons I learned (and the mistakes that I made) this spring so that your stationary accessible birding event can be the best possible version of itself.

Thank you for planning to hold an accessible, inclusive bird outing! Advertising a bird outing simply as “accessible” does not provide nearly the amount of detail that most people with disabilities and other health concerns need to decide if that’s an event they could attend. Here are two examples of event descriptions which include this kind of detailed information. You’re welcome to copy their formats when you write yours!