made recommendations, helped with the day of implementation and partnered with them all the way up to the actual night,” she explains.
In the last half-year, the American Association of Independent Music has contacted RAMPD regarding their Libera Awards. RAMPD has even “sat down with the Grammys to discuss inclusion and accessibility,” according to the singer-songwriter and co-chair for the Grammy Advocacy committee for the Recording Academy’s New York chapter.
This underscores part of RAMPD’s mission as an organization dedicated to dismantling music and entertainment’s view of disability as “charity or inspiration.” Instead, it wants to reinforce artists as legitimate competition. “The world is built differently, and once the world is built equally, then we can start to see who is good,” Lachi says.
“A lot of these big award ceremonies, they have the budget to build accessibility in a very intentional way. All you have to do is say how much it would cost and then put it in your budget. Once it’s in your budget, you’re not scrambling around last minute trying to cut corners,” Lachi tells“And if we’re talking about living in this new normal, award shows, events and even festivals really need to look at the ability to put on a well-served hybrid show.