PAW's “Birding for All"
Project was first called the American Dipper Project. Our partners were the
Colorado School of Mines EPICS and the Colorado
School for the Deaf and the Blind.
The Project was named for the American
Dipper, a small bird, who has the ability to walk and feed underwater in Colorado's
icy mountain streams. This hidden talent symbolizes the many talents of persons with disabilities that are sometimes
overlooked.
The purpose of the "Dipper Project"
was to develop inexpensive, tactile outdoor exhibits that can be used and enjoyed by persons with visual impairments.
See examples on this page.
Steve Bouffard, a former U. S. Fish
& Wildlife Refuge Manager, contacted PAW and suggested that we work together to create a new program called Birding
for the Blind. PAW said yes to the idea.
In 2007, PAW's Director was able
to visit Cornell's Lab of Ornithology, called Sapsucker Woods, in upstate New York
to discuss a partnership with them. They are interested in developing education materials that can be used for persons
of all ages and abilities.
An article about the Birding for
the Blind program was included in the American Birding Association's newsletter, Winging It. (Vol. 20,
no 3, p. 19). The purpose of the article was to invite interested agencies, organizations and individuals to join in the development
of the program. We received an excellent response from the article.
As the project grew, we changed the
name once again, now to Birding for All. A good birder birds by ear as well as sight. Others
became interested in the project. “Bird Jam” donated an I-pod and the software for Western North American birds to the project.
Students from the Colorado School of Mines EPICS and the University of Colorado
Denver, Department of Landscape Architecture have worked on this project for several semesters now. Click on the school in the above sentence and you will see their past work on this project.
The Birding for All Project is one
of the projects for 2011 with a partnership between the students from the Colorado School of Mines, the Arapaho
National Wildlife Refuge and PAW.
A link has been provided for resources
on accessible exhibit sites.
