If getting out into the great outdoors and enjoying fresh air and nature trails is good, why isn’t it good for everyone, including the disabled?

The requests come almost daily, asking that I join an environmental group like The Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, or others. As I read through the benefits, I saw wonderful places to visit, trails available, and groups setting out on weekly adventures in the great outdoors.

Still, one incredible failure also hits me—nothing for those with limited mobility. How can this be if everyone benefits from these trips and should support these groups, and they’re asking for everyone’s money and membership?

Would you join a group and pay dues or make donations if they didn’t provide something for you? They forget that “12.1 percent of U.S. adults have a mobility disability with serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs.” When you do the math, it’s about 40 million people.

The Sierra Club wants us to be “champions for the environment” and fight for “environment justice,” but its promotional materials, leaflets, and group announcements fail to include those with mobility challenges.

They tell us the type of trails (whether little effort or difficult) and the wonders that trekkers will enjoy, but not everyone will be included because there are, seemingly, no listed trails or trips for the disabled. Are the ableists taking over but asking the disabled to contribute to their efforts? I’m puzzled.

Why does the environment need “champions,” but disabled people don’t? Or am I missing something? Do they have trips or areas set aside for this wonderful outdoor activity for those with mobility challenges? I don’t want to rush to judgment, but I’d like to hear from them.

The Nature Conservancy has, by its own count, over 400 scientists on staff and has “protected more than 125 million acres of land.” Those are impressive numbers. How much of that protected land is available for the mobility challenged, or are they only protecting trees and grasslands but giving little regard to the people who could benefit from visiting them? Responses will be welcomed.

Birding and other wildlife-related activities have not always been accessible to people with disabilities. This makes it unfair for them to get the mental health benefits that have been linked to birding and spending time in nature.

Paths Not Designed for Everyone

When I contacted the communications person for a local nature preserve and asked if it was planned to be available for those who use walkers and wheelchairs, he said it was. I inquired further. He said the paths are all gravel and can easily be traversed. The former birdwatching boardwalks into the watery preserve had been closed.

Birders were now directed to a corporate warehouse site, where the entrance to the “new” trails was behind a warehouse. Little thought was given to how to get there, as was parking, especially for vans.

I doubt he's ever used a wheeled walker or wheelchair on broken rocks or loose gravel. I wonder if he truly understands the effort it would take for that person, who would also need not only an assistant with them but places to sit down and rest.

No, I doubt he ever thought about that. I'd like him to give it a try in a wheelchair or with a wheeled walker, much less one without wheels, and see how far he could go, but that wouldn't be fair. He probably has musculature that will enable him to go further. His every utterance about the paths demonstrates how his ability in this area has blinded him to those with disabilities.

What can anyone see on these walks? Besides the vegetation, flowers, and wonderful waterways, how about the birds? Birding has become a very popular activity, and the disabled are encouraged to begin this activity, but there’s another problem: equipment. Estimates are that 39% of birders have a disability.

What About Binoculars?

Go into any shop that sells binoculars, or go online and see whether any of the major or minor makers of these devices make any that don’t require you to lift your head. Yes, looking at birds isn’t always as they scamper across a field — they sit in trees. There are an estimated 96 million birders in the United States. What about the disabled birders' needs?

Anyone with a problem lifting their neck or head can’t use binoculars, as they are now designed. Why hasn’t one of the major companies made them with, possibly, some type of hinge or mirror so that a person doesn’t have to lift their head?

I’m not an engineer, but I once had a cell phone camera attachment that allowed me to take photos without pointing the phone camera toward any object—it had a mirror attachment. How many other devices could be designed for disabled birders’ needs? Our imagination is our only impediment.

One group attempting to improve the situation for the disabled is Access Birding. According to this organization, “Access Birding provides consulting and training services at the intersection of access, inclusion, disability and birding so outing leaders, interpreters and land managers feel confident and empowered to facilitate equitable access to nature for all of us.” Has The Sierra Club or The Nature Conservancy utilized their services for planning?

There is an obvious benefit to being outdoors and enjoying everything available in nature preserves and land worldwide. But it's also clear that there are limitations, not caused by a lack of desire but by a lack of thoughtfulness. Once someone is disabled, has someone in their home who is disabled, or interacts in the workplace with a person with a disability, they will become more enlightened, and each of us who does not have a disability has a responsibility to educate everyone.