Sarah Hurley
Chad Woolard
COM 201
14 February 2025
This proposal is going to focus on a music organization called “RAMPD,” which stands
for Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities. This organization goes along
with the social movement surrounding exclusion when it comes to those with disabilities, who
don’t get the support they need that regular recording artists do receive. RAMPD is also a
resource that helps connect the industry to a global directory of various peer-vetted music/sound
creators and industry professionals with disabilities, forms of neurodivergence, and other chronic
or mental health conditions. It’s a professional platform that helps with “Equipping the music
and live entertainment industry with disability inclusive tools, programming and strategy”
(RAMPD.com). They want to position themselves as a tool for potential struggling artists that
are looking for a leg up in such an exclusionary industry. The primary goal of this organization is
to bring opportunities, a sense of visibility, and community to RAMPD’s professional members,
while offering disability inclusion to its partners. They want inclusion to just be a part of the
industry, but unfortunately, it’s not. It is highly competitive and there is a game of favorites being
played, especially when one artist has more attention than another. This sadly isn’t common
when it comes to artists that have silent struggles like the disabilities mentioned before. Half the
time, these artists are being excluded without the industry even realizing, and RAMPD wants to
change that by drawing more attention to these artists who have felt or have been excluded. The
organization’s mission is to amplify disability culture, promote equitable inclusion, and advocate
for inclusive and accessible space in the music and live entertainment industries. This
organization is rhetorically significant because I feel that people undermine disabilities and
mental/chronic illnesses when it comes to social movements. Everyone is always focused on
racism, and sexism, and what not, which is still very important, but it causes other issues in the
industry to be overlooked in the long run. This organization is different than others, as they are
partnered with the GRAMMYs. Through their partnership, they work to make music’s biggest
night more disability-inclusive, such as using ramps to the stage, ASL audio descriptions and
more. This organization is different in a sense that people tend to forget the amount of
discrimination that isn’t racially or sexually motivated. I personally can’t think of an artist’s story
that I’ve seen that has to do with them being excluded in their profession. This topic is very
overlooked, especially when a lot of these disabilities and illnesses aren’t seen by the naked eye.
RAMPD has a whole executive board, Lachi and Gaelynn Lea being the co-founders. Lachi is a
globally touring performer, charting dance/pop music recording artist, an entrepreneur, and a
GRAMMYs Board Governor. She was born legally blind. She uses her platform to amplify her
pride and her identity to be a part of this community. Gaelynn Lea is an internationally touring
recording artist and speaker who won NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert in 2016. A member of the
GRAMMY Board, she speaks on Disability Rights and accessibility om the arts, and has spoken
in two TED talks.
https://rampd.org/about
