Event Recap: Diversability Unplugged: Elevating Culture with Disabled Musicians

By Katherine Lewis, Content Manager at Diversability

For our June Unplugged, Diversability partnered with RAMPD, (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities) for a panel discussion celebrating Black Music Appreciation Month and elevating disability culture. Diversability’s Content Writer Arielle Dance, Ph.D. (she/her) and Lachi (she/her), Award-Winning Recording Artist, and founder of RAMPD co-hosted four influential Black music professionals for the event. The panel included Warren (Wawa) Snipe (he/him), award-winning Deaf rapper; Keith Jones (he/him), Emmy-winning producer and co-founder of Krip Hop; James Ian (he/him), actor, musician, and model; and Sabeerah Najee (she/her), Soulection DJ, Golden Voice consultant. 

Panelists answered a number of targeted questions, told personal stories, and engaged with attendees in a Q&A session to close out the event. 

Discussion Overview

The conversation began with each host and panelist introducing themselves briefly, adding a visual description for accessibility. After brief introductions, Arielle dove into the evening’s questions. She first asked panelists to describe disability culture as well as music’s role and impact.  

Disability and Music as Culture

“Disability culture is part of everyday culture because disability is part of life.” – James Ian

James elaborated with a bold reminder that music is, and always has been, a driver of culture, social change, and with it human existence. Disability culture and music in many ways go hand-in-hand. Where sometimes explaining disabled life or culture to others may be difficult, music has allowed many to express their lived experiences in a meaningful way. A prime example of this is James’ recent song “Spaces” which celebrates his disability pride and culture. 

In a follow-up question, Wawa expounded by explaining how his music helps to elevate Deaf culture and awareness. Many outside the community are not aware of how impactful music is to the Deaf community. In fact, there is a common misconception that “if you’re Deaf, you’re not supposed to like music”. However, it’s a huge myth. Although Deaf people may experience music differently, it still brings a tremendous amount of joy and meaning to life. For Wawa, his creation of Dip Hop, where musicians bring the music to life through sign language, he and others have fostered a space where the two cultures elevate one another to raise others’ awareness of their unique experiences, squash myths, and share in the universal joy of music.

Black Music Influence

The conversation then moved to how Black music in particular has shaped culture as a whole. Keith began by reminding us that to analyze the influence of Black music on culture we must first be specific about space and time and understand that Blackness is a construct reclaimed by the community, born out of the “indomitable spirit that we had surviving the middle passage, and finally [expressed] glory in breathing and existing. The impact [of Black music] is universal. [So are] its cultural touchstones”. In fact, no genre of music has not in some way been influenced by Black culture and humans. Lachi elaborated with examples of pop culture icons like Elvis Presley whose many famous songs were actually covers of Black music. 

Sabeerah provided another perspective from the DJing industry. She believes that just like many other acts of defiance throughout history, disability culture is another example of counterculture, along with many forms of music like Hip Hop. As culture as whole shifts, and counterculture movements in response to it emerge, the music scene shifts with them. In a lot of ways, she sees the DJ and house music genres leading that shift. 

Arts as Advocacy

Arielle next asked the panel if they believed their art required an advocacy narrative because of their intersectional identities as a way to take a stance against cultural biases. James quickly answered that simply by existing they and the art they create are advocacy. 

“Us breathing is living defiance of what Blackness and disability is in the context of America, music and social justice.” – James Ian 

He went further by saying that all Black music was and is advocacy simply because of the context in which it originates and exists. Particularly within the last 50 years, Black music has been a collective response to a multitude of oppressions. At the same time, it is a testament to the humanity and strength of the Black community and the individuals within who create music. 

After a brief tangent, Wawa shared how being part of the Black Deaf community has impacted his musical advocacy. He shared that in many respects, the Black Deaf community is its own subset of the Deaf community because of how signs are shared. Just like every language, there are unique slangs, which set them apart. Also, because of systemic racism, some Black Deaf people are at risk of harm just by signing because it is mistaken for gang signing. He uses his music to share Black Deaf culture through music and sign language, and share the message of love and acceptance of all identities. So his art is advocacy by nature. 

Inclusion in Music

The discussion ended with panelists sharing how they believe the music industry and society can better support and empower Black Disabled musicians. Arielle began the segment with UK statistics that two-thirds of disabled musicians risk their well-being for a gig and over 70% hide their disability to safeguard their work. While based on a small study, it’s a troubling glimpse into the realities disabled musicians must face.

“Why go through a gatekeeper when I can jump the fence?” – Sabeerah Najee

Wawa and Sabeerah both responded that to change the narrative of what disabled musicians can accomplish, there needs to be a willingness not to accept “no” as an answer. Industry gatekeepers can and should be circumvented in order to reach the goals musicians have for themselves. It’s an inherently ableist industry, so the question remains: why even bother going through them? The evening’s panelists agreed that creating something for ourselves, aside from the status quo, is the way forward. And they are a testament to the heights that can be reached. 

James continued by reminding us that “Before we talk about how to empower Black disabled musicians, we must first discuss how to empower Black disabled people”. At the center of all intersectional identities is the commonality of Blackness. His analogy of Blackness as the center of a wheel with all other identities as the spokes was a profound illustration of the centrality of race in all related biases and their solutions. His message then became aspirational, with a message to continue proudly taking up space, creating amazing art, and continue to be living proof of the beauty of the Black Disabled human experience.