Brazenly Blind: Lachi on Disability Culture, Language, and Structural Change

Episode title and number: Brazenly Blind: Lachi on Disability Culture, Language, and Structural Change 6-#2

Summary of the show: 
Disability advocate and recording artist Lachi joins Bold Blind Beauty On AIR to discuss disability identity, blind culture, accessibility in the music industry, and the power of claiming the word disabled. In this powerful conversation, Lachi, Steph, Gabby, and Sylvia explore aging into disability, dismantle euphemisms, the vibrancy of disability culture, and how style, storytelling, and initiatives like Ramped and Glam Canes are reshaping access and representation in the music industry. 

Key topics & timestamps: 
00:00 – Welcome & Episode Overview​
03:00 – Lachi’s Story & Audiobook Voice​
07:30 – “Just Say the Word Disability”​
15:30 – Aging into Disability​
20:30 – Identity, Community & Connection​
27:15 – Disability Culture in Full Color​
31:00 – I Identify as Blind & Ramped​
41:00 – Glam Canes & Changing Entertainment 
47:00 – Inviting Listeners to Claim Disability Identity
49:00 – Where to Find Lachi and Closing Reflections
1:02:03 – Closing Reflections

Lachi's Full Bio:
Lachi is a world-touring recording artist, award-winning music executive, Disability Culture champion, Recording Academy National Trustee, and producer of a GRAMMY-Nominated album. Born legally blind, Lachi created the U.N.-recognized organization RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), a consultancy group, collaborating on disability-inclusive solutions with the likes of Netflix, Live Nation, and more, while bringing opportunities to its growing global network of creative professionals with disabilities. Lachi is also the host of PBS American Masters series Renegades, which celebrates unsung American heroes with disabilities. Lachi's latest book, I Identify as Blind (Penguin Random House / Tiny Reparations Books), is a collection of essays using humor, straight talk, and celebrity interviews to celebrate and amplify Disability Culture, identity, and power to mainstream discussion. 

Named a USA Today Woman of the Year, an ADCOLOR Innovator and included on both the 2025 Billboard Pride and 2025 Forbes Accessibility 100 lists, Lachi’s cultural activism has landed her spots on national ads and TEDx stages, discussions with the White House, NPR, and the BBC, and features in People, TIME Magazine, Good Morning America and the New York Times. 

Connect with Bold Blind Beauty to learn more about our advocacy:

• Join our Instagram community @BoldBlindBeauty
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel @BoldBlindBeauty
• Check out our website www.boldblindbeauty.com

Music Credit: "Ambient Uplifting Harmonic Happy" By Panda-x-music  https://audiojungle.net/item/ambient-uplifting-harmonic-happy/46309958

Thanks for listening!❤️

Transcript

Episode Transcript: Brazenly Blind: Lachi on Disability Culture, Language, and Structural Change

Episode Participants  

Steph McCoy – Host
Gabby Mendonca – Co-host
Sylvia Stinson Perez – Co-host
Lachi – Guest, author of I Identify as Blind, recording artist, and founder of RAMPD 

Steph (00:08.592)
On this episode of Bold Blind Beauty On Air, we're centering a conversation about identity, language, and disability culture with someone who is redefining all three. Lachi is a world-touring recording artist, Grammy-nominated producer, and a leading disability culture advocate who founded RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities) to promote accessibility in the music industry. A celebrated author and PBS host, she has been recognized as a USA Today Woman of the Year and a Forbes Accessibility 100 Honoree for her work amplifying disability identity. Her full bio can be accessed below the show notes.

As I listened to I Identify as Blind, one quote kept echoing in my mind. Toni Morrison's reminder that definitions belong to the definers, not the defined. Lachi doesn't just inhabit her identity; she commands it, proving that when we name ourselves, we move from being the subject of the story to the author of the change. In this episode, we'll explore how Lachi claims the word disabled as a source of power, what it means to age into disability and actually name it, and how she frames disability culture as something bold, vibrant, and world-shaping. We'll talk about weaving personal narrative into the broader disability lineage, the structural change behind bringing ASL access and deaf journalists to the music industry's biggest stages.

And yes, we'll absolutely get into Glam Canes and what it means to stand out with a visible aid at the intersection of visibility, safety, and style. We'll also ask Lachi what system she would redesign tomorrow, education, media, entertainment, or publishing, and why. Stay tuned as we welcome Lachi to Bold Blind Beauty on A.I.R. for a powerful, joy-filled conversation about claiming identity, reshaping culture, and being unapologetically, gloriously defined on our own terms. Welcome, Lachi.

Lachi (02:47.884)
Hello, hello, hello, hello. Can you guys hear me? I'm very, very excited to be here.

Steph (02:53.2)
Yes, yes we can.

Okay, so, Lachi, when I started listening to I Identify as Blind, one of the things that immediately struck me was your voice, not just the performance, but the authority behind it. Did you ever, did you always know that you'd narrate your own story?

Lachi (03:25.998)
That is a hilarious question. You know, I didn't always know that I would write a book that had anything to do with my story. You before I published this really collection of humorous essays, was writing non-fiction, I was writing, sorry, fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy books. And I wasn't really trying to write non-fiction. But then one day, someone was like, you really need to tell the story about the day you woke up blind. And so I told it at the moth. And I don't know if you guys are familiar with the moth. It's kind of like, it's kind of a storytelling, you know, competition slash radio show, et cetera. So I told the story at the moth and people were like, Lachi, that is a book. So I used that story to pitch to agents and then publishers, et cetera. And so the,

The telling of the story was through my original voice, right? If somebody else were to try to tell that story about the day I woke up blind, it wouldn't come off humorous or cheeky, you know, the way that I tell it. So the origination of me writing the book in the first place was because of my story and my voice. So when it was finally time to do the audio book, I figured there's so many punchlines and like little raps and just little things that I throw in there that another voice is just not gonna nail. And also the way that I celebrate myself, the way that I celebrate my community and everybody else in the book, the way that I celebrate disability, it does kind of have to come through the vehicle that is me because I believe that the way I celebrate it is relatively unique and I'm trying to get the point across.

Like, hurry up, like get on board. I hurry up and get on board. And so I kind of feel like I did have to be the one to say it myself, but I will say making that audio book, y'all, that was a process, girl. Okay. That was a process, especially for somebody who runs around all the time. That was quite the process to sit me, to get me to sit down and do all that.

Steph (05:46.523)
I bet it was, but you know, as soon as you opened, I'm like, my God, she's exactly like this when she's online. I mean, when you're doing anything, I felt like I cannot believe this. And then when you started doing other voices, I was on the floor, on the floor. Yes. Yes.

Lachi (06:10.03)
if we can't have fun, you know what saying?

Sylvia Stinson Perez (06:15.762)
And I think it's important for people to hear that, that, you know, that and gain that perspective that people who are blind can be fun and intelligent and brilliant and beautiful, yeah. And real, yeah, and real.

Lachi (06:27.32)
Yes, absolutely, absolutely. And I think, and real, I think it's also part of my larger reason for doing all that I do, right? doing the, being the one who's voiced the audio book to make sure it was humorous and fun and really from my perspective, but also writing the book itself, doing the fashion, doing the music, doing all of this is really just to get folks to be able to talk about these things.

Right? think we're just so afraid of maybe being offensive, saying the wrong thing, or maybe we're afraid of medicalization or charity vibes or, you know, paperwork or whatever disability invokes in people. want disability to invoke joy. That way we will stop. We can take the masks off quicker. we can start to talk to each other faster. And so I really want to invoke humor. Like my book is not all jokes, right? There are some learning moments. But I think my thing is, is I really want the sugar to help the medicine go down.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (07:33.592)
I love that. Yeah.

Gabby Mendonca (07:34.389)
Mm-hmm. And that's that like honestly leads right to what I wanted to ask you because you you write so powerfully about just say the word disability and describe words as a kind of currency So can you talk about the moment that you realized that claiming disabled? Actually expanded your power rather than limited it

Lachi (08:00.674)
You know, I today, girl, I can't stand euphemisms. They are going right in the toilet with the poop for me. And I think that a lot of it is, you know, when you claim your identity, especially as a person with a disability, when you claim those terms, what you're really claiming is dignity. You're claiming ownership over a part of your identity that would honestly give you the most liberation, right? Because it's what we're hiding from the most. It's what we're avoiding the most. We don't want to be pathologized. We don't want to be seen as weak or too different or too whatever. So we do everything we can to fit right in. And so we do, we pathologize these words or we infantilize these words to really separate ourselves from them as much as possible. That's essentially what we're doing. And so I was like, I am done being afraid of a certain part of myself.

I remember I was sitting, it started with me sitting in a, I was gonna actually do a show, I believe this was like 2019. I was gonna do a show and before the show I'm normally backstage rehearsing or whatever, but this time I wanted to sit and just see what some of the other performers were gonna do. And it was one of my first kind of disability slash empowerment diversity.

blah, blah, was pre George Floyd, right? So like, so I'm sitting in the audience and for the first time I hear there's this guy, he comes up and he's like, just say the word disability. Can I cuss on here? I probably shouldn't. He was cussing in his speech. So he was like, just say the bleeping word disability. Like, I don't understand. I don't have time for all this dawdling around and this and that. And he's just, just say it, okay? Anyway, and then he moves on and he starts talking about.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (09:50.109)
Yeah. t's not a bad word, right?

Lachi (09:56.609)
And I'm sitting there in the audience. My jaw is dropped. There's like, I'm like holding back to like, this guy doesn't even understand how much he just changed my entire life. Cause I had never heard that before of just say the word disability. was like, gosh, you guys are never going to believe this, but I was like, do I, do I say differently abled? If anybody ever says differently abled to me today is fisticuffs, right? But at that time I was like, do I say differently abled? Like, do I say handicap? I didn't like it because it just felt not pedantic
patronizing, patronizing. And you know, as blind folks, know, all different disabilities have different cultures that we have, as well as different stigmas that we're fighting. So every, I think every different disability has some overlap of the stigmas that we have to deal with, and that is why we have disability identity. 

But, man, I think maybe blind folks, little people, and a handful of other folks really have to deal with patronization. the ability, folks thinking that we can't handle things, that we can't do things ourselves, that we don't understand things, that maybe we don't speak English. And I think a lot of it is, and then it's what fuels our drive. It's what fuels our determination. It's what makes so many of us go like, yes, I can do it.

Right? And so I, just, I, when I heard him say, just say the word disability, just claim your disability. And one of the other things he had said was, and by the way, like the gods of disability are like, you know, the elders of disability have all agreed that we're just going to use the term. And I was like, shoot. It's sanctioned. So, so I started really leaning in. was such a powerful moment, by the way, that person's name was Lawrence Carter Long. are now like super duper really good friends. He's a really great guy. But that whole thing of just say the word really touched my life. And now I am a disciple of the word disability.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (12:05.434)
You know what else, though, is that so recently I was talking with someone, and someone had done to her like this whole thing of she's blind. They whispered it, you know, and we were talking about how that just triggers us because it's like you can say we're blind. It's not a bad word. And then a couple of weeks ago, literally I was in a community setting and someone said, Someone was, I get the, trying to hand me something. I don't think they noticed my cane, whatever. And the other person who I do know and knows me said, she's blind. You're going to need to let her know. And I was like, you know what? It was so sad because I said, thank you for acknowledging that I'm blind, but it was powerful for her to use that word for me. And there was nothing wrong with that. And people are afraid to use that word.

We, you know, you're talking about how we are, but other people are too, and giving them permission to use those words.

Lachi (13:03.118)
Right. It's the dignity, it's the autonomy, is the interdependence, it's the recognizing the humanity. Because if you're afraid and you're tiptoeing, then you're not recognizing me as a whole person. Right? And so I appreciate that for sure, absolutely, 100%.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (13:17.234)
Right, I'm not broken, right, yeah.

Gabby Mendonca (13:22.965)
And I just want to say like, gives people, I know you talked a lot about masking in the book, but I feel like when you just said that, it also allows people that have been masking their disabilities for so long, it gives them the chance to be like, wait, I don't have to keep trying to tiptoe around this myself, even though I'm living with the disability, right? So I love that you had such a good like, my God, that moment, you know?

Lachi (13:52.931)
Yes. Well, it also allows you, mean, even beyond it, think a lot of folks don't claim that they have a disability or they have a non-visible, right? So they're just trying to duke it out, right? And I think once you're able to start kind of naming things and claiming things, what you can start to do is accommodate yourself openly, right? Or not be weird about asking for accommodations. And then when you do that, it dovetails into you having more confidence in the first place and having more confidence in your identity. So I feel that once you begin to claim it, once you begin to accommodate your disability, your life is so much better, but it really does start claiming that part of your identity.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (14:35.462)
I love that. Well, we'll move on to our next question because we have lots of questions.

Lachi (14:39.84)
Okay, yeah girl listen, I'm long-winded. Okay, y'all gonna have to cut me off

Sylvia Stinson Perez (14:42.974)
We might all be Lachi. So you reference the Mount St. Mary's thesis on aging and disability, which I have done a lot of work in the aging, you know, and now I'm kind of getting there too. And the idea that I don't use a walker. I don't use a walker because I have a disability. I use a walker because I'm old. What do you think that mindset costs older adults?

Lachi (15:18.762)
I think that we are in a hierarchy of the fear of being pathologized. And that's really all it is. And everybody's doing as much as they can to separate themselves from disability, whether it is saying, I'm not disabled, I'm old, right? know, being older is also pathologized, but being disabled is more pathologized.

And so, and also claiming a certain disability within the umbrella is also like, let's say for instance, saying, I'm not disabled, I'm neurodivergent. I'm not disabled, I'm deaf. I'm not disabled, I'm a little person. I'm not disabled, I'm this and that. To distance yourself from the further pathologization of disability. There are a few issues with that. So first and foremost, you can have different, you can claim all parts of your identity.

You can have a, you can claim your disability identity separately from claiming your age bracket, I guess. And what that'll do is that can open, the beautiful thing about claiming an identity is that it opens community, right? And so I remember my mom, she has some form of arthritis, right? And there's a student in her class, she's a professor. There's a student in her class that also has arthritis, right? A young,

You know, I don't know how old their students are. Like, I guess she teaches in college. So somewhere between 18 and who know, 39 actually, if think about it. But anyway, she, they connected talking about arthritis and just like the different things and whatever. And they are totally different ages and they got to connect on their disability identity. Right. And if she just ignored it or just like, Oh, I'm just old. It's not that she could miss out on that connection.

And the only reason my mom, listen, I'm teaching everybody out here. The only reason my mom did that is because she and I have been having these conversations about disability identity, right? And so she found the ability to be like, okay, let's talk on this level. So folks who age into disability have the ability to claim their disability identity separate from their age identity. The other thing I wanted to point out about aging into disability is that you can...

Accommodating yourself in those new and different ways can change your life for the better. And the example that I use, or change your life for the new thing, right? All you're doing trans, you know, we're all actually just constantly changing and evolving. And the example I use is Matisse, right? Who is this painter. He is just like world renowned doing all these paintings. due to this and due to that, he becomes a wheelchair user and he becomes a wheelchair user in his seventies, I believe.

Like he's already getting up there in years. He's had a really illustrious career and he's unable to do certain, he has a different outlook on life and how he can use his body to continue to create art. And he starts doing the paper cutout art, which ends up also blowing up to some of his world renowned pieces. 

Like there's a piece called like blue man sitting on a stool. These artists and their names of their art is real. Blue man sitting on a stool, got you. But it ended up being like a piece of art that is in like everybody's college dorm room, right? And so that transition from one thing to another is just a new body and new mind that you are now using to navigate the world.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (19:01.298)
And I go back to what you said about the connections, the relationships you're able to build. And I have heard so many people say, and I say this, I've been visually impaired my whole life, but I still feel this way is that I have connections with people that I would have never had had I not been. And I hear people say that all the time. And I was recently working with a group of older people and they're like, you know.

I now have met some wonderful new friends that I wouldn't have met. And some of those people were quite lonely before. And so, yeah, there's so many things that if we're open, yeah.

Steph (19:43.171)
Yes, yes. And actually, I mean, that extends even beyond disability, I believe. know, difference is really, when we're open to it, is something that can expand our world. It expands our worldview. Because when you think about it, almost everything that we know from our experience is really from our experience. And that's how we gauge like the next thing, most of the time.

But when we have a variety of experiences through the shared experiences of others, it just, I don't know, I think it creates even greater connection.

Lachi (20:25.352)
I 100 % agree. I believe the way we evolve is by testing our, you know, becoming friends with folks who are different from us, and similar in different ways. And that's why I believe it is so important to claim all parts of your identity, right? Whether it's your, you know, for me, it's my race, it's my gender, it's my, it's my queerness, it's my disability, it's my love for cornrows, it's my Aries-ness, it's my New Yorkness. And the reason why that is important is because then I get to walk around and connect with randos and we have something in common no matter what it is, right? And I mean, get, we're all like, we're all humans. Like I get it, we're all humans. But within that, we have ways that we can connect with each other and then see the humanity in each other because we can connect at an identity level with so many different people, right? And the beauty of it is, like, yes, I can connect with a lot of people about race or about gender or about this and that.

When I can connect with somebody about my blindness or about my ADHD or about my OCD, suddenly we are connecting on a very like minute level. It's a very like, it's almost like a club because of the fact of the marginalization, because of the fact that the world is built so differently. We get to have conversations that no one else gets to have. We finally get to explore parts of ourselves that we were like, okay, so you do that too. 

You know, that you could never felt it was just you and how liberating is that right and so the more you feel that liberation the more you get to run into the world and connect with as many people as possible with true and honest deep to the heart confidence true and honest deep to the heart interdependence and a true and honest deep to the heart recognition of someone else's humanity

Gabby Mendonca (22:25.435)
I'm also an Aries Lachie.

Lachi (22:27.758)
Let's go. Every day is Aries season. Like, you know, the pie season, pie season, pie season. No, I got you, pie season. I got you, pie season, but it's Aries season, okay?

Steph (22:40.016)
Well, Lachi, sort of going back to the question that Sylvia had asked, if an older listener is starting to use a mobility aid but resist the word disabled, what kind of general reframed or questions would you offer them?

Lachi (23:03.832)
Well, what I have been doing is, you the thing I love to say to people is that you don't necessarily have to claim you're disabled or say I'm a disabled person to recognize your disability identity. And I believe that everybody has disability identity because this world wasn't created for anyone. Everybody has some sort of friction or barrier navigating this world, whether it is a, whether it's physical, whether it's

Etc, etc, etc. This world wasn't built for everyone's body, mind and way of communicating. Right? So what is yours? And that is your disability identity. And when I start to list how large the disabled umbrella is, the, disability umbrella encompasses so much. is big D disability. We're talking arthritis. We're talking diabetes. We're talking social anxiety. We're talking MS. We're talking epilepsy. We're talking fibromyalgia, you know? So

The, the, the, the umbrella is so large. And so I always love to say to people it's you don't have to identify as disabled if you don't want, but recognize your disability identity, recognize where you sit on that spectrum of, of, honestly, of social barrier, physical and social and communicative barrier. And then you will start to really look at the world differently. The reason why again, folks who are older or sort of the laundry list I gave you of different identities try to disclaim disability is because of the pathologization that has been associated with it, the exclusion that's been associated with the medical model-ness of it, the charity model-ness of it. And so there has been and you know, the idea of the social model I believe came about in the late 80s and has really been popularized ever since COVID and the

What was that audio app, Clubhouse, when all of a sudden the disability community was able to come together very quickly through COVID and really spread this discussion of social model, which like spread like wildfire. And so I think it's as we move away from...the fear of pathologization associated with disability, and we really enter this idea of disability identity and how do you navigate the world differently, which will allow people to A, build community around it, and B, begin to accommodate themselves so they have an even better life, and C, have more pride in all parts of themselves. Then we will also start to see folks who are older do it too.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (25:49.375)
You know, this is not one of our questions, but this makes me just think all this is is acknowledging that life is not easy for anyone, that we all have challenges. And you know, maybe on social media, all people see is like the per person's pretty life, you know what, you know, the easy things, and people don't share the hard things. And this is just an acknowledgement of, hey, as you said,

This world wasn't made for any of us. It's hard for all of us and being willing to acknowledge that, that we're not superhuman. We're just human. And that's really what you're saying is we're just human.

Lachi (26:29.024)
I, exactly, everybody has a different relationship to the world. And the reason why, you know, the reason why I focus on disability is because that is the hardest part for people to accept when it becomes, when it comes to colleges. I could have wrote, I could have wrote a book called I Identify as Black or I Identify as This or I Identify as That.

But I wanted to write a book about identifying as blind so that we could start to have this conversation and really de-stigmatize disability specifically.

Gabby Mendonca (27:01.728)
Mm-hmm. I love that. Your book is framed as a brazen celebration of disability culture, identity, and power. When you say disability culture, what do you want people to picture or feel?

Lachi (27:12.77)
Yes. I love this question because So when you think black culture you think of the music think of the slang you think of the clothes you think of this you think of that Okay, think of the way I just said this and that okay? When you think let's say Latin culture you think of the food Community the music you think of I think of the drinks. Okay wink

Sylvia Stinson Perez (27:45.438)
Ha ha ha, dancing, I think of dancing too.

Lachi (27:48.621)
Okay. You think of the dancing, you think of the accent, you know what I'm saying? You think of Benito Bunny, right? When you think immigrant culture, you definitely think of the food. You think of family. When you think queer culture, you think of the outfits. You think of, you think of sexual liberation. You think of like so many Yas Queen energy. 

But, but when the average Betty or the average Joe think of disability, why is it that they think of compliance and paperwork and grievance and this and that, right? And so I'm trying to say when we think of disability identity and disability culture, I want folks to think of the type of music and fashion that come from our different minds and bodies, to think of our perspectives, our different ways of navigating, to think of our heroes, to think of our histories, to think of the contributions we've made through innovative...
thinking because of having to navigate the world differently, through innovative discussion because of consistently being excluded or marginalized. 

To think of whether through struggle or through celebration, just how vibrant and how forward-thinking disability makes you because it is a table stake. And this is what I want people to really think about when they think of disability culture. There is...a whole adaptive fashion situation because of the different bodies we have. There are different untold stories because of the different minds and bodies that we come in. There are whole subcultures like deaf culture. There are languages like sign language. There are isms and idioms that we all celebrate because of disability culture. And I believe that it deserves to be celebrated and in the same way that we celebrate other cultures.

Gabby Mendonca (29:44.982)
I agree. 1000%.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (29:49.321)
Well, so one of the things that makes the book powerful is how you weave in historical references and community voices. Why was it important to set, I'm sorry, why was it important to set your story within a broader disability language?

Lachi (30:18.978)
Yeah, so first and foremost, I didn't feel like there were any books that really do that in a way that kind of does an overarching look, especially as it pertains to sort of art, media, and entertainment, right? 

So I try to take sort of a deep cultural dive into disability, whether it's folks from today who are currently navigating things, who are current thought leaders, or who are current celebrities who may not actually be talking about it openly, but they do have it. or historical art, historical music, historical movies, et cetera, so that people can start to get a broader paintbrush of disability through a cultural lens so that we can also start to recognize the identity that disability has throughout history. 

Like, if you think about the identity of different cultures, of Latin culture, of Black culture throughout history, it has a unique identity and unique growth and a unique place that it's sitting in right now because of the fact that we understand the historical and cultural context. And so I wanted to do that with disability in a way that was an overarching paintbrush. That's number one. But number two, I figured I don't own, you know, disability LLC, right?

I feel that if I'm going to talk about disability in a broader context, talk about wheelchair users and cane users and talk about folks with HD and other disabilities and neurodivergences and chronic conditions, that it is not my story. And so I wanted to make sure that the voices of folks with different disabilities were included in this story. So I'm not preaching it. You're hearing it straight from the horse's mouth. 

One of the big things that I was really excited that I was able to do was to speak about disability justice and to speak to one of the founders of disability justice, who is Patty Byrne, rest in peace, Patty Byrne. Because again, I am a huge proponent of disability justice, but I wanted to make sure that it was said from the mouth of the folks who really coined that term. 

I wanted to talk about how difficult it is to be a comedian who tours as perhaps either a wheelchair user or a little person, but I'm not that, so I wanted to talk to Nick Novicki, who's a comedian who tours as a little person. Or Danielle Perez, who's a comedian who tours as a wheelchair user, et cetera, et I wanted to talk to folks like RJ Mitty, who I wanted to talk about his, you know, he lives in the public sphere because of his role in Breaking Bad, and I wanted to talk to him about things like that. I wanted to talk, so I wanted to make sure that all of these stories that I wanted to talk about came from their voice, so that,

A, folks who are just reading this book, who are non-disabled or just on the outside kind of looking in, can be introduced to so many people that you can look up right now today that are actively doing stuff. But then, B, I really wanted to celebrate community. And I do that with everything that I do, whether it's with ramped, celebrating like other musicians.

Whether it is through this book, whether it is through celebrating it through my digital PBS series, American masters, et cetera, et cetera. Because I believe that community is always the answer. When people say, hey, Lachi, what do I do? Cause I get that all the time. It's just, what do I freaking do? You know? And I always tell them, start with community. And if your first stop is this book, I wanted to give you community.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (34:07.464)
love that you allowed other voices because and shared your voice because how many times and for how many years have people who do not have our lived experience tried to tell our story and it's not the right story.

Steph (34:23.512)
Yeah. And I think that you did that so well, know, marrying all the various types of disabilities and the people who are living with these disabilities and including their voices in the book. So, you know, when you read the title, I identify as blind, it can be a little tricky because one might think, okay, so it's about a person who's blind. Hmm. But it's so much more than that.

Lachi (34:32.184)
Thank you.

Steph (34:57.528)
It is so much more than that. And that was something that I thought was so powerful, just all of these voices. And so you hear me always talking about the spectrum of blindness. The blindness is a spectrum. It's a huge spectrum, but humanity is a huge spectrum. But I love how you took it a step further and talked about the spectrum with disability. And really, when we think about it, you coined a different term than what I use as far as able-bodied people. I call able-bodied people temporarily able because I believe that all of us are just one accident away from becoming disabled. And if we are fortunate enough to live long enough, we will acquire a disability, it a temporary disability or a more permanent disability, but it will happen within our lifetime. So, you know, I think that it's for people who are able-bodied or temporarily able to understand that they do have, you know, something in this game, this disability game. They have, you know, it's not like, well, that can't happen to me. You know what I mean? It's...

Lachi (36:13.4)
They have a stake.

Yeah. Well, I want to take it even now. Listen, this is Lachi cause Lachi is out here doing some stiff and talking some talk and people like, what you're saying out here. here's my take on that. Firstly, if I have to use the term, I like to the term non-disabled, because I feel like I want to, I want to center disability as opposed to able body. Cause I figure like I'm a sprinter. ran track and so like I'm blind and I'm.

Steph (36:37.624)
A non-disabled, right, right.

Lachi (36:47.18)
Disabled right? So am I I'm not I'm able-bodied and I'm blind, right? So I figure I like the term non disabled to refer to that but even then I use the term non disabled just for context like I feel like everybody's everybody has disability identity and You're either masking you don't realize it yet. You don't this you don't that and here's the perfect example I remember I was talking to and I was spouting out spouting off at like

You know, talking to a bunch of executive-level, like, okay, let's just say it straight white guys. And, they were like, they were feeling, they were vibing. They're like, yeah. And by the end of the talk, cause you know what, cause at first they're all like, we're going to be told you're right. You know, this like, you know, court mandated talk we have to go to, but by the end of it, they're all laughing. They're knee tapping.

And they're all raising their hands going like, well, like now I have, I'm deaf in one ear. So do I, am I part of the club or, you know, I have ADHD, do I? And so at the end of the day, these like stray, like quote, non-disabled, all were raising their hand and saying that they have disability identity.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (38:04.402)
They wanna join the disabled club!

Gabby Mendonca (38:06.216)
The club, yep, they wanna get involved.

Lachi (38:06.914)
Yeah. And so, I, I want to get involved. Yeah, come on in. And it's like, this is why I wrote this book like this. Cause it's like, I want people, I wanted to export that, you know, this idea of like, it can be fun. We can talk about it. doesn't have to be scary. and God, what was the other thing I was going to say? And, and, and with the point being that it's not a, a, a us versus them, it's a we, because it's not even about, and this is just me.

Steph (38:07.812)
Hey, it's open for everybody.

Lachi (38:35.726)
But it's not even about you're gonna get it in the future. You got it now, baby So let's find out what it is Yeah, I mean cuz I list I list like 8,000 things which one on is it and and it's so funny when I talk about disability identity I normally list about like five things. I'll say like I'll say chronic back pain I'll say arthritis. I'll say like general I'll say social anxiety. I'll say depression And then I'll say, I don't remember what all five is. I think I say like ADHD. And then I'll generally say, I've only named five things and I bet everybody in here falls into one. And then people are like, oh, you know, yeah, you right, bruh. And I'll be like, and it's so it's not just Kane's, know, wheelchairs and, and, know, hearing aids, folks. So anyway, so that's kind of to your point, but I do, I do get a little bit of heat.

because folks in the disability community, know, it's not bad. It's a conversation, but they're like, but if we say everyone's disabled, then we won't be, you know, our needs may get watered down. And I was like, you know what it is guys? If people start to think in terms of needs in the first freaking place, it is better for everyone.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (39:57.363)
Yeah. Right. It is. Absolutely. Yeah.

Gabby Mendonca (40:01.011)
Yep, it is.

Steph (40:01.036)
Yeah, everybody wins. Yeah, I like that. I like how you framed that. Lachi, you recently shared that RAMPD worked with the Recording Academy to bring ASL access to the red carpet, media center, and ceremony and helped credential a deaf journalist. That's structural change. What did it take behind the scenes to make that happen?

Lachi (40:07.778)
Girl, that's why we here.

Yes. an arm, a leg, and no, but it is, it's a lot. I first of all, we've been part. for those who are aware, Ramped is a global network of recording artists and music professionals with disabilities. We're creatives, we're executives. We are, producers, we're engineers, we're agents, we're managers with disabilities and neurodivergence and chronic conditions, et cetera who work from within the music industry to make it better, whether it is through consultations, partnerships, events, trainings, and then we bring opportunities to our global network as well, really to infiltrate culture at the nexus, which is music. And so one of the big things that we do at Ramped is we partner with the Recording Academy. They're one of our first partners and the Recording Academy runs the Grammys. We've also partnered with Live Nation and consulted with Spotify and CMAs and all that.

So with the Recording Academy, we've been working with them for about four years, 2022, yes, four years now, and they were our first partner. And it's been, and I say that because it has been, it's taken four years to get, you know, this far, but you know, these steps are incremental. And I think that it is a beautiful thing. We worked with the Recording Academy to get...sign language on the red carpet, which is huge because it's a cultural shift, right? Anybody sitting at home, the millions of people sitting at home get to watch it, right? Which is great. And yes, it's sign language, which is access for deaf folks, but the entire disabled community gets to begin to see access and to sort of see themselves in the fact that access is there. So that's number one. But you know, it could, if that was all we did, I gotta be honest, it would come off a little performative, right? And so,

We have to also go the extra step of A, let's get a deaf journalist on the inside among all the other journals, the CNNs, the ABCs, the VH1s, really asking the questions at these rooms. And let's have those CNN journalists turn to the side and see a deaf journalist with their interpreter sitting beside them, right? Number two, Ramped is working really hard to make sure that deaf, disabled, chronically ill, whatever folks in the music industry are

at all stages of the industry, whether it is in the mail room, whether it is in the green room, cause they about to go on stage or whether it is in the board room. And so we're getting a lot of music industry boards, entertainment industry boards. I've clawed my way into becoming a trustee at the recording academy, which has been allowing me to be able to get more folks.

with disabilities involved at the top level in the Recording Academy. But honestly, just the ramped brand as a cultural leader in music and accessibility and disability has been allowing for a lot of folks at these big wiggy folks to recognize disability as a topic to talk about eye to eye at the table and not just a compliancy thing to fear.

And it's why we work so diligently at RIMPED to kind of maintain sort of a prestige as it were, so that we can continue to get into these rooms, make these changes for everyone, again, at the genesis of culture, which is music. So, I mean, it's not the easiest thing, but the infiltration is real. A really great example is we throw these parties called disco houses and they stand for Disability Community House.

And these are parties that we'll throw in partnership with like a live nation or a title or a or whatever. And we'll use their space and we'll invite everyone to their space. And inside that space, we'll make sure that we have like a ramped stage for a disabled performer. We'll make sure we'll have like a disabled and neurodivergent DJ. We'll have labeled food. We'll have any drinks. We'll have sensory swag for people to pick up and take with them. We'll have floating sign language. We have conversation starters.

right, like little pieces of paper on the table where you can start conversations. We'll have name tags. And we have found that the name tagging thing has been super useful for blind folks because someone can say, hey, to that blind person and say their name so that they recognize that they're being, et cetera. We also send out early before folks attend of just like little things that would be really helpful for folks. So we let folks know how to do a self description. That's not 45 minutes.

so that they don't feel so afraid of self-describing when they meet somebody. And so those parties have been doing such a great job of integrating performers, artists, and music professionals with disabilities, with performers, artists, and music professionals within, that are like sort of music moguls navigating the industry. And one of the biggest things I love to say there, and this is I'll close on this, is that, listen, oftentimes there will be folks with disabilities on one side of the room kind of congregating.

And then music industry folks on the other side of the room congregating. And so I'll take the mic and I'll say my spiel of like, Hey, cause it'll be, you know, ramped professionals. And so I'll say, Hey, dear ramped professionals, you are all music industry professionals. go mingle with your peers over there. And then I'll say music industry professionals, you all got disability identity. So get your ass on the other side and everybody is the same in this room.

And by the end of it, have people spilling drinks together. We got people taking down numbers and people walk out with collaborations and deals. And then that is what we want.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (46:15.646)
Great.

Steph (46:16.932)
Wow. You know, I really, I'm loving this. It's like you've created the template that can be adapted for just about any industry.

Gabby Mendonca (46:18.182)
love that.

Gabby Mendonca (46:27.141)
Yeah, and I love, I mean, I already told Lachi, like, I love the work that you do anyways, but I think even with this, it's like, we already see such a lack of representation of people with disabilities within the media space, and that's on the broader level of television and film, but even in the music space, you know? And it's like, to see the work that you've done, to see how much you've poured into that has been like,

I'm just like, I'm sitting here as you're talking about it, I'm just like, wow, like you have really created the map of how people can be better and not even just be better, but also just to give those people a chance to understand like, hey, this person is just like you, they're here to do the same thing you're here to do, so why are you not taking that chance to connect with that person?

Lachi (47:19.694)
Absolutely. Period.

Gabby Mendonca (47:26.351)
So let's talk about Glam Canes because I for one, I'm someone who never used to love using a cane when I was growing up throughout my own journey of sight loss. But for people who are nervous to stand out with the visual with the visible aid, what would you say about the relationship between visibility, safety and style?

Lachi (47:51.183)
When I was eight ish and I got called out for this I always say when I was eight when I'm referring to myself as a kid and somebody was like girl you did a lot of stuff at eight. Whatever who cares shut up you know like so when I was eight screw you it's my story.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (48:04.88)
That's awesome.

Lachi (48:16.884)
I remember, a social worker, you know, tell my mom that I was going to start using, needing a cane. And I remember I took the cane and I had, much better vision back then. I remember I took the cane and I ran over it with my bike. Like that's how much I didn't want to use the cane.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (48:27.358)
I did that with magnifying glasses.

Lachi (48:33.302)
Right with the big with the big trifocals, right with the big goggle. I had that too. I had a monocular I had large print girl. I was sitting in the front of the class still can't see the board, right? so So, you know what it is and I was like I already have all of this stuff that is singling me out I have i'm walking in with like a freaking suitcase of things. I don't want another thing Right, and so I hated it and I didn't use it

Sylvia Stinson Perez (48:37.316)
It's like, uh-uh, no. Right? Yeah.

Lachi (49:02.67)
The problem with that is I Needed it. I needed a cane. I'm sitting there running around. I'm walking into lockers thinking it's the classroom, you So don't like you know, I really did need it and Part of it is is that I kept saying I'm not confident Because I'm blind or I'm shy because I'm blind or you know, I was ashamed because of my blindness and my neurodivergences and stuff, but like today I'm like obviously a social butterfly, I'm successful, very confident, but I'm still blind and neurodivergent, right? So that wasn't the problem. A lot of my, it wasn't the condition, it was the conditioning, as I love to say, because a lot of my confidence was because I, a lot of my lack of confidence was because of my masking. Will they find out? Will they know? I'm reading, I'm looking really, really close at the book. Do they think I'm a slow reader?

I don't really know where I'm going, right? And so I'm sitting here. I had this big glass ball that I'm supposed to put over the text so I can read it, but I didn't want to use it, right? So I'm sitting here looking close at the book and then I'm also thinking, my God, maybe they think I don't read fast. But if I would read faster if I used my thing, so what are we then? I would feel more, I would be able to read the fricking book, right? Then, or it's like I'm tripping over wires and I'm falling over. my God, everybody's going to think I'm weird. But if you use a cane, you won't trip.

Like, so, you know, as I started navigating the music industry and really working on my skill as a musician, I started to build a teeny bit of like that external confidence, right? Just on my own, right? Still masking, still doing all this. And then as I built my confidence and I'm getting sent in these bigger and better studios, I'm working with these bigger and better like celebrity folks and it's, and I'm thinking like,

I have this epiphany of like, need to actually start asking for the accommodations I need or telling folks what's going on so that I can actually just do better at my job. Right. And so I started doing that and the studios were like, yeah, sure. Like, what do you need? Like we don't, we're not rich or anything that we can't like restructure our building. But so I was like, no, I mean, I just need maybe somebody to come down and get me or, you know, was little things or like, you know, maybe leave.

leave the glass door open so I don't walk in there. Also like the dignity of it, right? Of like, I wanna use the restroom myself. Like you don't need to like, you so just allowing people to know like what's going on, right? And so as I did that, I started getting more gigs because I was doing my job better. And then I recognize that I was, I remember I went to a dark gala.

and someone had invited me to this gala. It was like an A &R guy that wanted to sign me for a deal that I was like super stoked about. I go, it's dark, I don't speak to anyone. Apparently there was a ton of celebrities just waltzing around and I didn't know who was who. I wallflowered and I left. And I found out later that that A &R had waved me over and I had missed the wave and he had felt snubbed. And that is not something you do when you're like young.

and you know, a whippersnapper out here trying to make it work, an indie songwriter. So I said, okay, this is gonna happen to stop. Somebody gonna have to get control of this thing here or else it's ain't gonna work. So I started using my cane and I started navigating better. It also allowed people to like see that I couldn't see. And it also allowed me to feel more confident as a blind person. And

I remember I went to another party at the Grammys. It was my first Grammys party. I walk in with my cane and people at that time I had already done so much work that people were like, hey, Lachi, guess you're blind now. So anyway, what's going on? And I say all that because then my confidence was like really spiking. And I, and as I'm using my cane and I got more confident and I'm wearing doper clothes, my cane needed to start matching my personality.

because it was becoming an extension of me. Hence, eventually, the glam canes. And I remember at the beginning, people were like, and so I'm around with these bedazzled canes, and then my blind friends, know, Molly and like Haben and all those, they're like, wait, where'd you get that cane? And I was like, I just made it. They're like, I'm like, do you want one? And they're like, yeah. And so I make one for them and I make one for the other. And then they are starting to run around and people are like, where'd you get those? And they're like, Laji just made them.

And everyone's like, I want one. I'm like, no, y'all gonna have to start paying for these. Cause I just try. and when I started doing glam canes, you know, I spoke to a few people and they were like, blind people aren't going to have any money to be buying these canes. And I remember thinking to myself, like I did. So, and I can't be the only one, right? Cause I knew that I was masking in the music industry, right? And that's why I started Ramp.

because I had had this epiphany that I wasn't the only one masking and I was no way I'd be able to find nobody else because everybody else is masking. So I got to start it so they can get to it. And then I had this other epiphany of like, well, I'm somewhere on the blindness spectrum and I don't like using a cane because canes are weird and I'm not. And then I was like, wait, I am weird. Yeah, I was like, I am weird. That's dope. And I want my cane to be as dope as I am. So here's the thing.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (54:29.212)
And they're not pretty. They're not pretty. Yeah.

Steph (54:31.402)
Exactly. Yeah.

Gabby Mendonca (54:39.305)
Right.

Lachi (54:40.31)
I told you guys this whole story because now when I walk around with the, first of all, I'd be seeing Swifties out here with it. I'd be seeing Bay hivers out here with it. Barb's, don't know about that. I don't know if the Barb's are still a thing, but I'd be seeing all these people out here with it. You know, people on first dates, people going to graduations, the age, the age is all over the place. Guys, girls, whatever. And what it is now, it is a symbol of us no longer being, you know,

Contributing to our own erasure. That's exactly what the cane represents. It's a it's a conversation starter It is a I feel sexy-er It is a I got money. I have I want to feel glamorous. I deserve to be seen That is what the cane symbolizes and that is what I love about it And the last thing I want to say too is that pretty recently

Steph (55:28.24)
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (55:33.106)
I love that.

Gabby Mendonca (55:33.609)
love that.

Lachi (55:37.593)
There was a young, a mother like bought a cane for her young daughter, who I guess was like, I don't know, maybe 14, 15 or whatever. And that the daughter was like super anti-cane, but then asked her mom to buy her a glam cane. Like it wasn't like the mom was shoving it at her. She asked her mom for a glam cane. And you know, the mom wrote this like heartfelt ass letter or whatever to us. And I have to tell you, I burst into tears because if I had glam canes when I was eight,

You know what I'm saying? I probably wouldn't have been able to run over it with my bike because you can't run over rhinestone like that. But I, I would have, I'm even like getting teary right now, just thinking about it. you guys are gonna get me crying. But if I had ramped when I was eight, if I had glam canes when I was eight, if I had this book when I was eight, I would have been able to be liberated so much sooner.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (56:30.364)
Yeah, yeah. It's just helping people to be proud.

Steph (56:33.538)
Yeah, but I think you're right on time.

Lachi (56:37.634)
What'd say, Stephanie?

Steph (56:38.288)
I think you're right on time. You know, it's great thinking that if you had all that at eight that it would be different. But seriously, I just think that you're right on time. I too did not want to use my white cane for similar reasons. And the only reason I started using it was because I almost got hit by a car. But once I found out that there were color canes, because I wanted to do rhinestones, but I thought I'm too lazy to sit here and try to

Gabby Mendonca (57:03.914)
Same.

Steph (57:09.36)
I mean, I thought about it and somebody was telling me, why don't you just get sheets of them, you know, Amazon? No, I'm not doing that. just don't. So when I found out you had them, I'm like, okay, that's all I needed was somebody who made them. I'll buy them. And I use mine every single day. I don't wait for a special occasion because every day is a special occasion. And you're right. It opens the door to conversation. I can't tell you how many people will just come up and talk to me because of my cane. And I'm an introvert, so an introvert who can't see well, it's like, I'm not gonna walk up to people. I'm not Lachi. But.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (57:54.791)
It might be time for me to get one. A glamcade.

Steph (57:58.345)
Yes, you have to. You must.

Lachi (57:58.767)
Yes, the club. Join us. One of us!

Sylvia Stinson Perez (58:04.318)
I use a cane, I just don't have a glam cane. Okay, well, I think I get to ask, sorry, go ahead.

Lachi (58:09.708)
You will notice, you will notice the difference. Now I was just going to say, you'll notice the difference.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (58:14.974)
Yeah. So if you, this is our last question. If you could redesign one system tomorrow or, you know, this evening, media, entertainment or publishing, which one would it be and why? I know you, it's hard to pick one.

Lachi (58:34.487)
Hmm. It is hard to pick one. I mean, I currently work in entertainment and I feel that the stories we tell are very powerful and it's what resonates throughout, you know, beyond our existence. And I believe that music is a great gateway to the soul.

I also believe that televised, know, television, movie, film, representation is a huge way for folks to begin to learn and to see themselves in different ways. So I really do feel that I would probably stick with entertainment, but not just seeing ourselves. I mean, us telling the stories. I want to see more folks with disabilities, neurodivergence and chronic conditions being directors, right? Being the writers.

Right? Being the agents, being the partnership, like CEOs or CPOs, being the folks with the money, being the folks who write the checks, being the folks who understands how to get the representation in a way that celebrates lived experience. That only happens when we're the ones actually pushing the story from the inside. And the last thing I'll say about systems is there's a lot of people out here who want to just break the system down.

They're like, let's tear it all down. There are other people who want to get all the way, like get into the system and kind of do it granularly by like trying to work their way up. Both of those are great ways or ways to do it. But I firmly believe that I'm going to do my best job at changing a system by getting the folks who benefit from the system excited to change it with me.

Steph (01:00:22.896)
Yeah, that's what you're doing.

Gabby Mendonca (01:00:25.564)
You are doing that. Trust me. Because you inspire, like, I am someone who, when I start to think about the business that I'm building for myself now, I look at the confidence that you have, the energy you bring. And I haven't even met her in person yet, but like, I can tell that you bring so much light into that room that you step into, because you do it even in a virtual space.

You know, and so like those are the things that I feel like I'm just like, you know, oftentimes I have to sit there and I'm like, hmm, like I'm thinking about all these things that Lachi has done, like the energy she brings, all of these great ideas, the confidence, but I know it also took time to build up to that. But that's why I love the work that you do. And I just, I love you as a person. And I just wanted to say that.

Lachi (01:00:56.59)
Thank you.

Steph (01:01:19.768)
Yeah. And well, and the other thing too is, Lachi, you're making it easier for those that are coming up behind you. know, people like Gabby and, you know, just younger people, like you said, eight-year-old you could benefit from the work that you're doing now today. That's why I said you are right on time.

Lachi (01:01:20.359)
and she worked for me. That's high praise right there.

Gabby Mendonca (01:01:21.798)
I did, yeah.

Lachi (01:01:47.119)
Well, thank you so, so much. mean, I wake up every day and this feels me and it's, it's, it drives me to keep going and things here and things like this. These are the things that keep the crown on straight. So thank y'all so very much.

Gabby Mendonca (01:02:03.941)
Of course. And I just want to say for our closing remarks, as we wrap up today's episode, I'm left thinking about Lachi's call to just say the word. Whether you are aging into disability, navigating the music industry, or simply finding the courage to stand out, there is immense power in naming your experience and claiming your lineage. So if you enjoyed this episode,

Here are three ways to keep the conversation going. You can, sorry, my Braille device just kept stopping. You can read, pick up a copy of Lachie's book, I Identify as Blind, through Penguin Random House. You can support by learning more about the work being done at RAMPD and to make the industry more inclusive and you can connect. Be sure to follow Lachi's journey and check out her full bio and links located just below these show notes.

Lachi (01:03:19.094)
and grab you a glam cane.

Gabby Mendonca (01:03:19.494)
Signing off. Yes, exactly that part. Thank you for joining us on Bold Blind Beauty on Air. Reminder, your identity is yours to define, your style is yours to command, and your story is a vital part of our collective culture.

Until next time, stay bold, stay vibrant, and stay unapologetically you.

Sylvia Stinson Perez (01:03:54.621)
Yay!