Think birding requires rugged terrain, expensive equipment, or hours on your feet? Think again. The joy of birdwatching belongs to everyone, regardless of mobility, vision, neurodivergence, or health status.
Yet, this is only true if we actively dismantle the assumption that people with disabilities or chronic illnesses are not interested in, or able to experience, the outdoors. They are, and they care deeply about birds, habitats, and community. This Birdability Week (19th–25th October 2026), under the theme “Bird Where You Are,” we are celebrating the reality that birding can happen wherever you are, exactly as you are.
Virginia Rose, disability rights advocate and founder of the non-profit Birdability*, knows firsthand how challenging it can be to navigate nature as a disabled person but it never diminished her curiosity about the world around her. As she inspiringly shared, “the only thing that I felt really changed was that I had to manage getting around in a wheelchair.”
It is this desire to explore and connect with the world that fueled her dedication to increasing access to nature for people of all abilities and to helping them find community. Inspired by movements like Latino Conservation Week and Let’s Go Birding Together, Virginia founded Birdability in 2020 with a vision that is simple yet profound: birding is for everyone, regardless of ability.
*Birdability focuses on people with mobility challenges, blindness or low vision, chronic illness, intellectual or developmental disabilities, mental illness, and those who are neurodivergent, deaf or hard of hearing, or have other health concerns.
Inclusion in the Caribbean
At BirdsCaribbean, we strongly support this vision. With over a million people in the Caribbean living with some form of disability, facing daily discrimination and exclusion, we are committed to ensuring that birding is not another sphere from which they are left out.
Our partners in Antigua and Barbuda, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Margarita Island are exploring ways to make their birding events more welcoming and inclusive. And we would love to see more of these events taking place throughout the region, whether it’s allowing visually impaired participants to “see” birds by handling carved wooden birds, as done by Sociedad Ornitólogica Puertorriqueña, or learn to ID birds using bird songs, as done by the late Simón Guerrero.
Birdability Week (19th-25th October 2026) offers the opportunity for all birding groups, non-governmental organizations, and groups of family and friends to host an accessible bird outing. With some thoughtful planning this event can be enjoyable for every body.
Attend a virtual event and connect with differently abled birders
There are a number of virtual events already scheduled — from panel discussions about self-care while birding to how identities shape peoples’ birding experiences and how to continue making birding accessible to all for Birdability Week 2026. Check their events page for more information and follow them on Instagram and Facebook @birdability.
Watch the birds or follow the birdsong
Here are some steps to implement accessible and inclusive birding. Additionally, you will need to take into account access considerations for birding locations such as making sure that trails are accessible and safe for those in wheelchairs and interpretive signs are a good height for everyone. Adaptive birding equipment for birders who are blind or have low vision, rely on wheelchairs to move about, need to rest often, or experience other disabilities can truly enhance the experience for them.
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Help Put Accessible Birding Locations in the Caribbean on the Map!
There is also a Birdability Site Map which allows you to share your accessible location, and to search for potential accessible sites near you. While the majority of mapped locations are currently in North America (with a few in Central and South America), we want to change that for the Caribbean!
If you know of accessible birding locations on your island we encourage you to complete on-site, in-person Birdability Site Reviews and add them to the Birdability Map so local and visiting birders know where to go.
Together we can build a more welcoming community and ensure that the joy of birding is a shared experience for everyone, everywhere. The key is to remember that the birding community is strongest when it includes all of its members, and that a love for birds knows no bounds.