“Access means something completely different for every single one of us. We try really hard to get curious about what is there — and then to share that with the world, so that the folks who are looking for places to go and to bird that meet their access needs, they can decide: is this accessible to me?” ~ Cat Fribley

A lot of the curiosity practices that we’ve talked about over the years — get out for a walk, listen to this, look at that — call on us to do and be in ways and places that aren’t necessarily possible for everyone in the same ways.

That got me thinking about being more curious about what accessibility around curiosity really means and entails.

And because synchronicity or serendipity or just dumb luck works this way, leads and opportunities for conversation along these lines started showing up.

I was delighted to sit down with accessibility advocate and Birdablity executive director, Cat Fribley to explore the lessons to be learned from the organization — and from Birdability Week, a week full of events dedicated to making birding accessible and inclusive for everyone — especially those with disabilities and other health concerns. 

We talked about empowering oneself as an explorer; having a “both/and” curiosity mindset; cultivating our own “sit spot” practice; birding as a proxy for being fully present; thinking more broadly about what “accessibility” is; crowdsourcing an evergreen accessibility community resource — and that “you don’t know unless you go!”

Curiosity is the antidote to hopelessness.

Listen to Ep. 301: Birdability & Making Curiosity Accessible, with Cat Fribley

Cat Fribley is executive director of Birdability. Through education, outreach and advocacy, Birdability works to ensure the birding community and the outdoors are welcoming, inclusive, safe and accessible for everybody. Birdablity 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 who have other health concerns. In addition to current birders, they strive to introduce birding to people with disabilities and other health concerns who are not yet birders so they too can experience the joys of birding.

Birdability Week 2025 is October 20-26. Check out the schedule of events – maybe there is something near you!

Check out the Birdability Map, created by the National Audubon Society in partnership with Birdability. Do you have some additions? As they say, “You can help ensure birding truly is for everybody and every body!”

Birdability® is a registered trademark and should not be used as an adjective or a verb, but only in relation to the nonprofit.

If you enjoyed this conversation, you might like these C2BC Classics: We Are All Birders, with Maria-Elena Montero; Just Looking, with Menka Sanghvi; Ode to Crows, with John & Colleen Marzluff; and Empathy, with Brandon Charles.

Theme music by Sean Balick; “Wingspan” by Bayou Birds, via Blue Dot Sessions.

You can subscribe to Choose to Be Curious on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.