Celebrate Birdability Week 2023

words by Lauren Kostas

The Chicago Ornithological Society welcomes anyone interested in birds be part of our community—long-time birders, birding curious, able-bodied birders, and birders with accessibility challenges. All are invited to join a guided field trip to a newly restored park, hop on a Zoom lecture by a conservation expert, or grab a beer with fellow community members. Extending a warm welcome means understanding that birders have all different abilities and backgrounds. The goal is to make it easier for more people to opt in.

Growing access and promoting inclusion for all birders is at the heart of the nonprofit organization Birdability’s mission and the reason behind Birdability Week (October 16-22). The week is a celebration of birders with disabilities and other health concerns, and an opportunity to share resources and ideas to help the birding community become more accessible, inclusive, and welcoming to everybody.

There are many ways to get involved and be part of the celebration. The week’s activities include a trivia night, a session on the therapeutic benefits of field sketching, and an invitation to share videos of accessible locations. Check out Birdability.org to explore all the ways to participate.

One of the founders of Birdability, Virginia Rose, will be speaking next week as part of the 2023 Compelling Voices in Birding and Conservation speaker series, sponsored by COS, the Chicago Audubon Society, and the Peggy Notebaert Museum.

Virginia uses a manual wheelchair, and when she began birding 20 years ago, she saw no other disabled birders. She founded Birdability nearly five years ago as a way to share the joy of birding and remove barriers to access. She’ll be presenting on the Joy and Empowerment of Birding on Thursday, October 19, at 6:30 pm. Join the session to learn more about access, ways to be a more welcoming birder, and how to use the powerful Birdability Map, a crowd sourced map of accessible birding locations. This free, virtual, event is open to all, but registration is required.

Follow Birdability on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube to stay up to date on the best practices for inclusion and to hear from leading voices on accessibility.