Birdability Birders: Conversations about Birding with Access Challenges. Episode 4: Kari Sasportas.

Birdability and American Bird Conservancy (ABC) are co-hosting an online interview series aiming to promote accessibility, inclusion, and representation within the birding community.

Throughout the series, interviewees will discuss their experience with birding, what everyday life is like living with their disability or other health concern, and what they need from the birding community and birding locations for them to feel welcome, included, and able to access birding locations.

The fourth episode will feature Kari Sasportas. Kari Sasportas (she/they) is an Autistic birder with a lifelong passion for animals and nature.  A serious interest in birds began with the sighting of a Pyrrhuloxia in 1997 while serving as an AmeriCorps volunteer at Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas.  In 2015, Kari was certified as a Master Naturalist by the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts.  Kari has been a member of Mass Audubon since 2002 and avidly contributes to eBird, adding to their life list while furthering citizen science.  Kari is a Massachusetts Birdability Captain and advocates for greater understanding and inclusion of neurodivergent individuals in natural spaces and birding communities.  

Closed captions and an American Sign Language interpreter will be provided. The series is free to attend, but registration is required. Register to attend the fourth episode here.

New interviews will be held live online on the first Tuesday of every month, 6-7.30pm Eastern, from October 2021 to March 2022. You can read more about the series, upcoming guests and access recorded interviews here.