San Francisco Zoo Launches First Neurodiversity Celebration Week With Sensory Supports

Two therapy horses named Toby and Tallulah walked onto the grounds of the San Francisco Zoo and Gardens on Tuesday, marking the opening day of what zoo officials and the Brady Riding Program describe as the first equine-assisted therapy program ever held inside an Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited facility.

The visit was the centerpiece of the zoo's inaugural Neurodiversity Celebration Week, running March 17 through March 23 and timed to coincide with the nationally recognized observance. The Brady Riding Program, a therapeutic riding nonprofit, partnered with the zoo to bring children with special needs, neurodivergent people, and their families into an equine-assisted therapy experience on zoo grounds, a combination that neither organization had attempted at an AZA-accredited institution before, according to Bay City News.

Zoo spokesperson Nancy Chan said the partnership carries meaning beyond a single week of programming. "Something like this, it really ties us to San Francisco," Chan said. "It ties us to the community in a whole new way. The zoo has always been inclusive and accommodating for our guests and it could be a blueprint or a model for other zoos." Chan added that the model could be scalable to other facilities pursuing similar community-focused work.

Beyond the equine programming, the zoo has built out a broader set of sensory accommodations for the week. A downloadable sensory guide, available through the zoo's website, is designed to help visitors with heightened sensitivities plan and navigate their visit. The zoo has also worked to reduce barriers around social interaction and other challenges that neurodiverse visitors commonly face, according to its event page.

A dedicated information day is scheduled for Saturday, March 21, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., featuring tables from participating organizations. General zoo hours run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the week, with last entry at 4 p.m.

The zoo's digital accessibility work runs parallel to its in-person programming. Its website offers an epilepsy safe mode that dampens color and removes blinking animations, a visually impaired mode, and compliance with W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 at the AA level.

Whether the Brady Riding Program partnership extends beyond this week or expands to other AZA institutions remains an open question, but Chan's framing of it as a potential blueprint suggests the zoo sees the collaboration as something worth replicating.