Joey Stuckey 0:00

Welcome once again to the Stuck on Sound Podcast. And I was so excited because my dear friend Lachie is with me today. And we have many, many interesting things to talk about. Um, so and as you know, uh I'm verbose, and luckily Lachie is as well. So we can we can we can gab. Welcome to the program, my friend.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Hey, Joey, thank you so much for having me on here. I'm really glad to be here, and congrats on this new podcast. This is great.

Joey Stuckey 0:25

Well, thank you so much. We've been meaning to do this for years, and and and finally what tipped me over the edge was I decided to get my lawyer to come on and and con talk to me about AI and the law. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, okay, let's just keep rolling. Let's keep going. Just keep going. That's right. So listen, you you are um you are unique in many ways as a friend of mine. And one of them is the fact that I really don't have many blind friends. Really? And um, yeah, I don't. Because when I grew up, um there was no sort of hub, there was no sort of sure. Sure. You know, and and I just went to the public school system just tough it out. And uh, but you uh are are one of the few blind friends I have, and I'm one I must tell you because I wanna I want to start off hot and heavy with the book. Sure. I identify as blind, and yes, I must I must tell you that it it it was uh such a really interesting read and to to to read about all the things you've done, to read about your you know your thoughts on things, and I encourage everyone to go grab a copy.

SPEAKER_01 1:28

Please, please, and not to just to humbly brag, the audiobook is really, really good. Um it's got music in it.

Joey Stuckey 1:36

Yes, that's what I was gonna say. The audiobook, no, they're both great. Okay. Sure. If you can see to read the print, go, you know, no, no, no, no harm in getting the print. But if you but even if you are a cited person, I would recommend the audiobook. I really would. I really would.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Well, I read it. I read it, I narrate it.

Joey Stuckey 1:52

That's the point. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

I narrate it. And it is um, it was on a bestseller list on Libro, and it has won a Kirkis award. Nobody's really given awards to the print book, so that's why I'm like, you know what?

Joey Stuckey 2:05

Well, they all hail the audiobook, is what I said. Um but but it all but I would I would actually submit to you that you're not actually reading the book, you are performing the book. Sure. The character that you're the the the energy, the pacing, the some of the some of the sort of like silly voices. I mean, it's it's all there.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

I am the consummate entertainer. I cannot help myself. Like even when I'm just by myself, I'm entertaining myself. That's what I do all the time.

Joey Stuckey 2:34

Well, that's no that you know what that's an interesting point because sure as a really sick child with a brain tumor, and I mean I was really in the hospital the time, my parents taught me how to entertain myself, and I am now doing that for a living. I basically entertain me and charging you.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Yeah, but but you're so right. Like, I'm like, I'm up here having a good time. If you want to be a part of it, give me money.

Joey Stuckey 2:55

Absolutely. There's nothing wrong with that, man. Players gotta play.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I gotta say, Joey, so but I gotta I want to agree with you. Actually, growing up, I didn't have a lot of blind friends either. In fact, um, you know, I just wasn't bl I don't know how to put this in a like a really delicate way, but I just wasn't disabled enough to really hang out with the quote disabled side of things. And obviously I wasn't sighted, so I didn't really fit in, fit in with the side of things. So I took a lot to music and you know, writing and things like that. And it wasn't until I got much older and I started actually finding success in the music industry that I had realized, like, I can't be the only one. Um, and you know, that was in the 20 teens. And, you know, so a lot of the stories in the book are when I already started coming to the realization that I wanted to build community and started finding friends and finding other folks and realizing there's a lot of folks like me who are just masking or trying to dial dial it back or dial it down. And I'm like, no, let's go out, let's paint the town red, and then anyone who has a problem with it can go sit in a corner and shove it, right? Like, you know, let's have fun. So that's my story.

Joey Stuckey 4:03

I'm sticking to I I have come up against the uh not blind enough or too blind scenario as well. And what's really interesting is that you know, a sight of people go, Well, I think you can see them like if you think I can see, uh, then let me drive your car and we'll prove it.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Yeah, and let's try it out. Like, okay, you don't want me behind the wheel.

Joey Stuckey 4:22

Yeah, yeah. This is well, we we in my 20s, we did we did, I did drive a little bit, but but it was uh it was back roads. And uh we all we all came to our senses before anything bad happened. So I was like, you know, but the the sad part about it is and and I I don't drink and and um and never have for a lot of reasons. I think blind and drunk are not necessarily good combos, but these but mainly it's because I take a lot of medicines I can't do that with sure sure. I must say I went off with some friends uh that night in the car that I'd that I'd driven, and we ended up to get back on the right road. My one friend had to end up driving through a Burger King drive-thru the wrong way.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Oh no.

Joey Stuckey 5:00

And I thought, you know, maybe I was good enough after all.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Yeah, maybe it's not that hard.

Joey Stuckey 5:06

Like if you have it.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

If the majority of like Americans can do it.

Joey Stuckey 5:12

If the roads weren't curved, it'd be fine. Um I want to talk about um, and you know how much I love origin stories, and and that's I I just want to talk about like your pathway to getting into the music business, like the early years, we'll call it. But it's yeah, I really I really love that conversation. And and and uh I would love you to just tell me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

You know what? I so I've always been into music. Um, you know, my mom said while other babies were kicking against the womb, I was playing the keys against the womb. Not sure how she got a keyboard in there, you know the deal.

Joey Stuckey 5:44

My wife can tell you that. She's gonna be a president practice nurse and midwives. So we can I'll ask her how that happens.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Okay, well, yeah, we'll figure it out. We'll get it sorted. And my mom's not a liar, so um so um but early on I really loved music, and like I just told you, you know, I couldn't, I didn't really fit in with either side of the situation, so I didn't have many outlets to share myself with the world or to really have the world share itself with me, other than music. So music was just always a part of my situation. And um as I got older, I remember in high school, because and by the way, I was super shy. No one will ever believe me, but I was super shy, I never spoke. And I remember in high school, I signed up for the talent show. And this is funny, I didn't put this in my book, but I should have. I signed up for the high school talent show, and I was like, actually, I don't want to do this. I don't even whatever. And then the list the next day showed that I was accepted to perform at the talent show.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

And I was like, oh no.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

So I didn't want to do it, but then I was too afraid to back out. So it's like I was too afraid to back out and too afraid to do it. Like that's how like neurodivergent my ass was in high school. And yeah, and I remember I was gonna try to play sick, but I was even too like, I didn't get the cojones to even do that. So I finally so I get to the school and I kind of waft my I'm just like guided around all the way up until the day, the the moment, the minute, the second. They call me up, I get on the piano, all the lights go off, and everything just dissolves. All the fear, all the whatever. I'm playing the piano. I'm singing a song. This is like the first time people in high school have ever heard my voice. And I'm singing a song that I wrote about how I feel like I don't belong. And the chorus goes, Don't you hate it when you feel you don't belong? Right. And I say it over and over again. And by the end of the song, I the lights turn up and I come to. You know what I mean? I'm like, oh shoot, like, wait, I do now realize what I was doing. Um and the audience is clapping and cheering, and they're relating and they're crying, and people are coming up to me and saying how amazing and how like I said the words that they didn't know how to say. And that's when I kind of realized, like, this is me. This is I live here. Whatever this is, whatever I just did, whatever this feeling is, I live here. And you can take me anywhere else, but I'm going to come back here because this is home. Um and you know, I ended up, you know, I went to school, like to college. I ended up getting a day job, et cetera, et cetera. And then I got signed to um a d a major deal very early on, and that was the worst. Um and you know, they were they were pimping me out as like a the blind singer, blind singer, right? Right. And I couldn't stand it, I hated it. And you know, when I tell people that today, they're like, but Lachi, you say blind you're a blind singer all the time now. And I'm like, but I say it from my own power, right? Exactly. Um, and they were kind of using it as some kind of shtick or a selling point or a charity vibe or whatever.

Joey Stuckey 8:52

So a niche market boy, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Yeah, I'm like, guys, so I leave that deal, which took me four years. We could talk about the legalese of that. Uh took me four seconds to sign the deal, four years to get out of it. Um, and you know, I did my own thing for several years where I was an independent producer, songwriter, and backing vocalist. Um, and I built my own accessible studio because I was having issues with accessible studios. But as I got more confident and started getting my own phone calls, I got signed again to a management deal. And I just got bigger and better opportunities. And I realized like I can't keep masking, like I can't keep pretending I'm not blind because it's affecting my job. You know, I'm tripping over wires, I'm bumping into the glass, you know, vocal booth. Or like a producer will have the screen up and say, should I cut here or here? And I'm just like, there, wherever, I don't know. And then all of a sudden I don't have a vocal, you know, yeah, exactly. So I started having to accommodate myself, advocate for myself. And it wasn't even a like picket fence, like you need to be accessible. I just did it because I wanted to do better at my job. Um, totally. And and then, you know, that's kind of when I had that epiphany as I got, as I found success, and I was no longer too afraid to really just be in front of my disability. That's when I realized, whoa, other professionals who are either mid-level or like past entry level, right? They're like actual professionals. To get to where they are, they're probably masking two. So let me find all those people. And that's how ramped started and a few other things.

Joey Stuckey 10:30

That's that is that is awesome. I have a question for you. That that first song that you wrote and sang, uh, um, did you ever record that? Because uh you're you just sang it to say that was lovely. I I love it.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Oh, you know what's so I have not. And I I just had you know what no one's ever actually said that you heard it here on uh the Joey Stucky podcast, folks. Absolutely.

Joey Stuckey 10:51

We're always scooping.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

I haven't thought about recording it. I maybe, yeah, okay. I'll look into it. I'll look into it, but we gotta have you on guitar.

Joey Stuckey 11:00

I'm I'm there, I'm there, and and this this time I won't be wearing the Speedo. So oh my God. I feel like well, maybe you feel this way. If I can't see you, you can't see me. That's just how I feel about these things. Um my sweet wife tells me all the time, stop rolling your eyes, people can see that.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

I have I'm so bad at facial expressions. Like if somebody says something that I think is gross, I'm just like, huh. Or like if I think they're a liar, I'm like, uh-huh. Aren't they? You realize that we can see you. Yeah, I know.

Joey Stuckey 11:33

It's hard, it's it's honest to God, hard to remember. Uh and I will I will I will just say, just I'm gonna I'm gonna scar you for life now. Um, I will say that I had a little cat, uh uh her name was Lulabel, and um, she liked to have bath time. So she would jump into the sink and when I'd go take a shower, and I'd let the water just drip on her ever so slightly, and she'd we'd have bath time. And I could literally say to her, Come on, Lulu, it's bath time, and she'd get up and follow me in there and pop in the sink. And I got out of the shower one day and thought she was so cute, and I said, I'll just take a picture here. And I did, and I decided to send it to my wife, because you know, I'm a blind man taking pictures, and so I decided to send it to my wife, say, hun, is this is the cat in focus? I'm getting ready to post this on Facebook. And she was like, uh, the cat is in focus, but there's also a mirror in front of you, and you have it on no clothes.

SPEAKER_00 12:18

Oh yikes! Oh my god, I was like, thank you, God, that I tested. Yeah. It's like, hey, everybody, look at my kitty cat. It's like, whoa, hey, oh, hey, oh, hey. Oh, yeah. How'd you know it was the name of him?

Joey Stuckey 12:31

Anyway, the thing is, I I I love this. I love so you did start on the piano. That was the that was your instrument of choice.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

That was my instrument of choice, but I've always been I see myself a lot more as a singer and songwriter.

Joey Stuckey 12:43

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Uh the piano is where I go to sing and songwrite.

Joey Stuckey 12:47

Um you're you're in a long line of uh of of fabulous blind piano players then, because Yeah. It's weird to me that they, I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Ray Charles and I love CD Wonder. I really do. But as a blind guitar player, they all say, Oh, will you come play piano? I will not.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Yeah, but you know what? There's there's there's a lot of really great blind guitarists too. Like, let's not act like there isn't. Um exactly, you know what I mean? And also one of the reasons that actually one of the reasons Ray Charles had become a pianist was because there were so many blind guitar players back in his time. And maybe they they weren't big, but they were just you know strewn around. So he wanted to do piano, and lo and behold, he helped sort of uphold the trope, you know, blind Tom.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

But you know, I I jumped on the piano because it was, you know, uh to be honest, my mom fell into the trope and was like, my daughter's gonna be a genius. And she was getting me like Beethoven and Chopin's ADs and stuff like that. And I was doing it. I was playing, you know, I would play all of the, you know, boop. Um, and then I so I am, I I was classically, I guess, in a sense, ear-trained because I can't read the notes. Um I didn't I did start out with the Beethovens, the Mozart's, the the Chopans, and I was playing all of that and fingering and all of that. But I really got into jazz, and when I got into jazz, I started to shift to really appreciating the jazz vocal.

Joey Stuckey 14:21

Uh just who's your favorite jazz artist?

SPEAKER_01 14:24

My favorite jazz vocalist, no, my favorite jazz singer.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

It's gonna be Billy Holliday, and I know that sounds maybe a little cliche, but I I her, the way she vibratoes is kind of the way I vibrato. Oh, interesting. You know, that kind of thing. Um and and I loved how she, in the face of, you know, it was a lot of segregation at the time, and she would just go ahead and sing right through it and, you know, sing about the really hard topics. And that also really propelled me because these days, you know, I'm just openly singing about disability and neurodivergence and like my lived experience. And so I always appreciate the artists of your that were during the difficult times singing the songs as songs of freedom, songs of justice, et cetera, et cetera.

Joey Stuckey 15:09

Absolutely. And Lady Day was uh is an amazing so much emotion comes through her singing. That's what that's what just mystifies me. I mean, it's not that she's just technically great. You know, it's it's this whole thing of like you you feel every note that she sings, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

You feel it.

Joey Stuckey 15:27

Well, so let's let's jump into uh that you fact that you've got a new album out, um and and it's it's it's all happening, it's all happening in 26. So it's happening. It's it's a little bit of a departure for you as far as um genre, I would say.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

Um, you know, I've always been a bit of a genre chameleon. And over the last uh starting in about 2023, I really settled into focusing on, you know, whether it's pop, you know, electronic dance music, pop rap, um pop over dance music, kind of staying in that realm of almost commercial friendly music. And starting in 2023, I had a song called Lift Me Up, which was a song about Judy Human, and it went viral. And so I was like, oh, okay, I guess.

Joey Stuckey 16:16

She in the video, or am I misremembering that?

SPEAKER_01 16:18

She it was an in memoriam because she had passed away several beforehand. But we did have her picture like at the end and said, you know, in memoriam. But a bunch of folks with disabilities were a part of that song.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

And that was when I realized that I could really just openly sing songs about my lived experience, about disability or blindness or whatever, set it to pop and it still be competitive. Right.

Joey Stuckey 16:39

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Because I just I get tired. So there's two things, right? There's a lot of folks who go like, well, I I don't want anyone to see my disability. And then they go so hard in that direction that it feels like they're ashamed of themselves, right? Right. Then there's the other side of it where it's like, I deserve to be famous because I'm disabled. So I even if I sound like crap, you guys gotta like it. And I'm like, you know what? I get to, I should be able to sing about my lived experience and still make competitive music. And so I went on that kick starting from 2023 after that song went viral. It had charted on radio, like it was toe-to-toe. So in 24, I started, you know, I did Mad Different with Amazon Music, which was more pop songs about my lived experience. And then in 2025, I leaned into the rapping and I started rapping about, you know, life on hard and I deserve everything, throw it in the bag and all of those, you know, bitch, I'm a professional. Oh, can I cuss on here? Um, yeah, absolutely. And and so those songs just back to back went viral. So summer of 2025, I was just viral, viral, viral, viral, right? And I was people were coming into my DMs, you know, just like Siza and you know, Bob the Drag Queen, like real, just regular celebs were just like, we love you, and started following me. And I was like, what? What's going on? I'm just a girl with a cane singing songs. And so but the thing about it was is that I was getting people to talk about it. I was getting people to, you know, talk about these things, and then you know, then the book comes out, and the book is another just layer of humor and fun and celebration, but also people are learning stuff, right? And so the natural next progression was me realizing, like, okay, well, I really had started ramped because I wished that my younger self had that when I Googled music and like blindness or music and disability. I had started glam canes because I really had wished my younger self wished she had that, like the ability to have a really cool cane while she so she didn't feel so weird. I wrote the book for my younger self. It's a book I wish the y my younger self had to learn about some role models, learn about some history and not feel so ashamed. So I was like, let me make an album for my younger self. And so uh I decided I wanted to still speaking of genre, the album is still very pop, trap, it's got hip-hop elements, it's got electronic dance elements, um, but it is made, it's family-friendly, it's all ages, it's made for kids. So it's yeah, essentially a children's album. And I wanted it to be an album that celebrates disability and neurodivergence set to bops so that young folks and their parents and their teachers and their families can really talk about these things and in an accessible, fun way. And you know, these kids are listening to Cardi B and Megan the Stallion, right? So I'm not here to make some wheels on the bus ass BS, right? So exactly. We're here to make some some fun, fun, educational, but you know, still accessible music. Um and then I really wanted to make sure that it was in community with a ton of different folks who generally make um music for kids and folks from the disability community, from the ramped member network, such as yourself. Thank you so much for being a part of one of the songs on the album, which is called Magnificent. Um the Fuller album comes out in July. And this the single just dropped and it's called Fidget. Um wow. And so one of the songs, yeah, it's called Fidget. So you guys go check it out, it's out there. Um, and we will be dropping another single, and then we'll be dropping the album in July. So we're really excited about it. It's and it was signed to Platoon, which is a really amazing label under Apple, and um just I I believe we have 70 collaborators and about 55 of them. Yeah, 55 of them have neurodivergence or disability. So it's also about giving role models, you know, creating the role models kids need to see.

Joey Stuckey 20:40

I am so excited by this because you know, starting with educating children on you know, diversity um is is fantastic because uh you you talk a lot about identity in the book and you're very, very, very deep um understanding of that and some really poignant things uh that you that you put in the book that we mentioned at the talk that we did at the Braille Institute. So you and I were together for there. But but the thing is, I mean, if you you've got to get the children involved, um that was that I think that's one of the things that, you know, as a blind person, when I was a guy, a kid, you know, uh there were there was some some tough times of other kids relating to me. Um there was some there was some bullying a little bit. Um I mean, I think this is what's so brilliant about your record. I mean, you as you as as you aptly say, you're not playing down to the children. That's because children are a lot smarter than people give them credit for. Yeah. And um that's right. So I love that.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Well, you know what's so weird, and now I'm gonna take like a tangent very quickly, but like, you know, you know how we so in the book I talk a lot about um pathologizing like as a weapon, right? Right. So let's say, for instance, like you're almost um saying, like, let's say, oh, women are weak, so that's why they should be paid less, or something like that, which is a sound. Saying like women, you're pathologized, saying almost women are have a disability just because they're a woman, right?

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Um, and then I I go through this whole long list of like how that's done to black people or brown people or indigenous people, right? And then I my whole thing is it's like, you know, just be proud of having a disability instead of using disability as a weapon. But I had come to this epiphany the other day where I was like, it actually turns out that people with disabilities actually do it to an even uh a next class, right? We're not actually the bottom of the barrel. We say that we don't like to be infantilized, right? Like, don't talk to me like a child, don't talk to me like a kid. But like children and kids are also humans.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Oh, they are. They are. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

So we're sitting here, so like, don't treat me like a kid, don't treat me like a child. And I'm like, don't even don't treat a child like a kid. Talk to a kid where they're at. And that's what I'm doing. Like, you know, when and this is very um poignant in the blind community. And this is not you, you know, when you talk about how you didn't have a lot of blind friends and then you were just kind of tossed into public school, which I myself was also tossed into public school, and you kind of had to duke it out. Yeah, it's it's a blessing in a way because you came out the other end just you know, learning how to like kind of beef up and stand up for yourself instead of being coddled. And there is a a lot of coddleness in the blind community when they're younger, and so that when they're adults, you know, they don't quite have the social skill of not having been coddled, right? Well, absolutely.

Joey Stuckey 23:32

And so this is why Yeah, it's it's a systemic issue really with with uh the younger generation in general, like the the the coping skills are absent from a lot of people. Yeah, yeah. You know, I have dear friends that I love with all my heart, uh, but I just think, oh my God. Yeah you you you are either on too much medicine or not enough. Uh but but you know Joey. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But but in all seriousness, I mean it it really is a systemic issue. And you know, the the children, um the more you treat them uh equal footing, you know, the better it's gonna be. My parents always gave me uh some degree of control of my own life as is as much was reasonable for a child. I mean, you know they gave me agency as much as it was reasonable for a child.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Agency is the right word, absolutely.

Joey Stuckey 24:22

Yeah. And and you know, I spent a ton of time in the hospital and all this kind of stuff. And you know, there were some things that we just couldn't do, but you know, there were th other things we could. But the the thing that was so incredible about my parents is when I was a kid, there was, you know, there's no ADA, there was there was really no support network. Okay, sure. And and so we just you know we we just sort of had to figure it out. There wasn't really a choice. And I do think that that's made it I do think that in in fairness, it's made it easier for me to to um to cope with uh adversity in general, which like uh, whatever, just another day. Just just just you're you're like me, like hey, listen, you know, I'll just go kick some more doors in the day.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yeah, but really, you know what I mean? And um I'm out here breaking glass ceilings while bumping into glass doors.

Joey Stuckey 25:07

So that is a beautiful that's a t-shirt. Patent bending, that's a t-shirt.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

I like that one. I'm gonna go ahead and write that down.

Joey Stuckey 25:13

Well, I want to talk real quick. Uh I want to talk about glam canes because we mentioned glam canes, but I think this is genius. Tell me, tell everybody about glam canes. This is so cool.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Yeah, no, glam canes are bejeweled canes, um, glam canes.com. Everybody go check it out. Uh, but they're they're at its core, they're bejeweled canes that are just gorgeous, whether it's a blind cane or a walker or a uh quad cane, et cetera, et cetera, because I believe that blind folks and all cane users deserve to be fabulous no matter what. And these aren't your run-of-the-mill, like, oh, how cute your cane is painted. No, these are these go with ball gowns, these are red carpet canes, these are canes for a graduation or a concert. But the reason I made these, the reason I am so excited about glam canes is when I was young, right? Uh, I was told I needed a cane. My mom bought me a cane. I was like eight or seven or something, and I remember I had enough vision to still be able to ride a bike. I remember taking the cane and running over it in the driveway because I was like, I am, I am already wearing the big goggles. Die! I'm wearing the big goggles. I have the large print. I'm sitting in the front, everybody's already staring at me. I don't want to use the cane. I said, no. I had enough. But meanwhile, you know, I was, you know, walking into lockers and thinking they were the classroom, right? You know what I mean? I was, you know, hugging old, hugging old friends and realizing it's a tree, you know, that kind of thing. So I love it. So the thing was I actually needed a cane. And like I had said earlier, you know, it took me a long time to finally realize that like I'm actually hindering myself by not using this tool of independence. It's a tool of independence, actually, not a tool of weakness. So I started using the cane after like uh missing a few hand waves that cost me a deal or that cost me a gig. And so I started using my plain Jane White cane, and you know, things got better because I was able to navigate and this and that. However, as my confidence boosted, as I was getting more gigs and being more visible, and now I have this thing that's an extension of my body essentially, right? I was like, it needs to match. Like I'm wearing these ball gowns, I'm going to these galas, and this white and red cane don't match it. So I I started uh glamming up the canes and you know, and eventually, you know, other of my blind friends, you know, the Molly Burks and the Hobbing Gurmas, they were like, Oh, where are you getting those? And I was like, I'm just making them. And they were like, Can you make me one? I'm like, sure. So I started making them and handing them out to folks. Then more and more folks were like, make me one. And I was like, All right, you know what? Okay, everybody, calm down. I need to sell these.

Joey Stuckey 27:42

It's what a burden to have a brilliant idea, you know?

SPEAKER_01 27:45

Right, exactly. And it was so, and Joey, the crazy thing was this people were like, Oh, no one's gonna buy those. Blind people have no money. And my first thought was like, Well, I'm blind and I have money, so there's gotta be at least another one of me.

Joey Stuckey 27:59

Absolutely. At least one. Yeah.

unknown 28:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

And you know what was so funny is that we've been selling out. It's still word of mouth. We still have not done a national campaign just because I've just been doing thing to thing to thing, right?

SPEAKER_02 28:12

Right. Um, right.

SPEAKER_01 28:13

But we've all been word of mouth. We have been selling out. That's why we've been able to upgrade to also doing quad canes and walkers. And it really makes my heart smile to see young folks going to Swifty concerts, going to Beyonce concerts with their glam canes, going just to work, seeing guys in a black tux with a black cane, um, seeing uh there. I saw a picture. There was three uh gay guys on Pride with a glam cane that was all colors, right? Oh wow. Yeah, very, very fun. And very cool. It's a symbol of you know, no longer being uh contributing to our own erasure, right? It's a celebration of identity. It is saying, hey, I'm worth it, I belong, and um I'm ready to go. Like I have confidence. So don't mess with me. I'm here. I'm not sure.

Joey Stuckey 29:03

Looking the way you want to look, you know, and and I mean it's and feeling the way you want to feel.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Yes. Yeah, absolutely.

Joey Stuckey 29:10

It's really, it's really empowering, and I think it's I think it's so so wonderful. I mean, to be honest, it's a victory if I get out of the house with clothes on. I mean, I just wear whatever my wife tells me to wear. You know, I so I I don't know. See, I'm not I'm not a fashionista like you, but I but I do appreciate it. And I feel like, you know, I I do feel like it's nice to be able to to have this this you know your cane, which is a very important tool for mobility and and and and autonomy. Um it's very important to be able to have that represent you and for you to be able to speak about who you are, you know, through the accessorizing of the cane. I think that's absolute genius. I love it so much.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

Um Well, we need to hit up like we need to chat offline. You need to give me your height, your cane height. We need to get you glam caned up. Um we'll do it. So we'll do it. So that we get a picture of you and your cat in the glam cane, but make sure you're wearing a shirt.

Joey Stuckey 30:00

I mean, no promises, Lachi. Naked Joey's a happy Joey. Anyway, uh let me ask you, let me ask you this. Um, by the way, um everybody just you know, everybody calls you Lochie. Uh and and there's a reason for that. But I must say to you that I've always thought of, I was like, oh, wonderful. She's like, you know, Madonna. Or, you know, it's it's this it's this one, yes, this thing. Like you've got the built-in fame factor already just in the name. Well, thank you. I mean, it's just it's just it just rings. It rings like a celebrity, is all I'm saying. Um but anyway, but I think that's so cool. But the other thing that uh I want to talk about, and we've you've mentioned it in passing, but I want to make sure we let people know what ramped is. Oh and and how they can check it out. Because if you are uh I had a really interesting experience early in Ramp's uh um you know birth, if you will, of a student filmmaker uh who had no money, but that's okay. Uh a student filmmaker made a film about um uh a couple and one of them was in a wheelchair and the other one's not, and they made a little five-minute film about it, and and she just said, I just thought it would be really cool if you know someone um from the disability community also did the music. And uh I said, I was like, you know, what's your budget? There is no budget. Okay. Well, here's the deal. I I'll I'll I'll whip you up something quick and dirty. Unfortunately, she only needed like ending credits and like one song kind of in the background in the middle. I'm like, yeah, I'll tell you what, I'll do it for you, it's no big deal. Um so so uh you know, it took me all of like 30 minutes, maybe. And um so I still don't know sure, but I liked the fact, and this is what I'm kind of getting to, when people are seeking out there some some some disabled artists, Ramp is a wonderful hub for that. Um I'll let you take it and tell the origin of Ramped.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Well, like I said, when I started um in the music industry and I re I had this epiphany that there's got to be other professionals who are masking like I am, and they're just kind of in the shadows and there's no community. Um, I remember I started out, I did a panel with the recording academy, and this is 2021, right? So people were starving for virtual content during COVID.

SPEAKER_02 32:07

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

And we did a panel with the Grammys and their leadership. And I brought a couple of other folks with disabilities on that I had just found from around. Um and we talked about how um inaccessible the industry was. It was a great panel, it ended up going kind of viral. And then people started DMing me and hitting me on email going, we want to be a part of your movement or a part of your organization. And at that time, I was like, Well, we don't I don't have a movement or an organization. I'm just some kid, right? And uh, but what that did was it put a fire under my butt to actually put this thing together. And I had the acronym ramped in my head before I even like did anything. And I was like, this acronym is way too good. It stands for Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities, R-A-M-P-D.org. And the first thing I did was I got on Clubhouse. You remember Clubhouse, the audio only.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

And I went and I found as many people as I could, and also recommendations of people, you know, that I could find that were music professionals or music creators with disabilities. And I spoke to all 50. You were one of them. I didn't find you on Clubhouse, but I I'd found you, we had met at like a Grammy's party the year before. That's right. Um and I I asked a bunch of people, like, what is it, you know, that you want to see different in the music industry? And by and large, you know, people said representation or accessibility and visibility and all that, but by and large, people said, you know, they felt like they were the only one doing it, that they were the only disabled person, you know, navigating the music industry space. And I was like, How are there 50 only? So that's true. So my first thought was, let's get together. Um, and that was kind of all she wrote. We started getting on Zooms, we started um putting together some plans, some ideas, some coalitions, and um people were getting wind of what we were doing. The Grammys was like, hey, what's going on over there? Um and eventually we uh were partnered with the Grammys um to consult on the first, you know, for the Grammys 2022 uh to be more accessible. And having the Grammys be our first partner got us a lot of visibility. We got Forbes and Billboard and New York Times, and that brought in more members and more partners. And Ramp then kind of blew up. And right now, what Ramp is is it answers several questions. It's a it's a global network of music professionals with disabilities, not just artists and musicians, but also let's say if you're an agent or a manager or you work at a label or you're an executive director or et cetera, et cetera, um, you are welcome. And you know, of course, disability, neurodivergence, the full spectrum of disability, the full spectrum of music. And it answers the question of, well, where are they? Right? So we have a public directory, so it answers that question. Um, and then number two, Ramped also does consultations and trainings and things of that sort to also make the music industry more disability inclusive for the global network that we're cultivating. And the network is also, we have a community membership, so anyone can join that, but we also have a professional membership where we peer vet. Because we want to make sure that we can start to highlight some of the folks that are professionals out here instead of constantly being met with charity model narratives, right? Folks going like, oh, all let's help the poor disabled musician, or using us as props, or using us as, you know what I mean, feel-good inspiration porn. I want us to be I love that term, right? Let's go. I want us to be hired as competitors. I want us to be opening for bigger acts, but I also want us in the boardrooms. So I'm a national trustee of the Recording Academy. Joe, I know you are uh on the board down in the Atlanta chapter. And I want to start seeing more of that, not just in the Grammys, but all over the music industry. So we do a lot of leadership pipelining um in Ramped as well. Uh, we do um music songwriting camps, which by the way, Joey, we got to somehow get you involved in the next one. Um we do disco houses, which are parties, networking parties where music industry and and and ramped member network come together to integrate and make deals and talk to each other. We have uh had mentoring folks come in and speak with us from the industry in the past. So ramped is out here doing a lot. So if you are a music industry professional, and by music industry, I mean live entertainment, I mean sound design. And by professional, I mean a creative or an educator or a techie, and you have a disability, a neurodivergence, a chronic condition, a mental health condition, come join us at rampt.org. We're waiting for you. We are you we are your home. We're here to welcome you. But also, if you are an entity, a music industry entity, live entertainment entity, a venue, et cetera, and you want to partner with us on how to make cultural change, we don't slap wrist. We're not the wrist slappers. There are other organizations that do that. Um we work on cultural and systems change and and stigma change. That's what we ultimately want to break around.

Joey Stuckey 36:51

Yes, absolutely. And I think you have you have really hit on something important here, which is that you know to to make change, you have to be you have to have a table, uh, you know, seat at the table in in the room. And and and that's why, you know, you you know you making sure that you're on the recording academy uh board, that you're that you're on an AES board, that you're you know all these things are really, really, really important. Because you can't make change, it's or I should say it's harder to make change on the outside.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

It can be done, but it can be done, and and that's a thing, because sometimes when you do get in those rooms, a lot of times the reason why people there's an issue with getting in the room, sometimes you get in there, you get comfortable, or you get the perks, and so you stop working as hard, right? Right. Or perhaps you get in the room. Yeah, you get in the room and you start to advocate and then you start to get the look, right? So you're like, oh, maybe I shouldn't advocate so hard. So, but I I gotta say, the this is why I advocate very specifically the way I do. I use entertainment, I use humor, I use music, I use fashion, I use smiles because I don't actually think I'm gonna be able to make change from the outside and do the picketing and all that. That's just not me. And I don't, you know, other people can do it and do it well. It's just not me. I also don't know that I'm gonna get hired and you know be the change from the needlework on the inside. I know that for me, the best way for me to make systemic change is for me to get the people benefiting from the system excited to change.

Joey Stuckey 38:15

Absolutely. That is a very insightful comment. That makes a lot of sense. It really does. And and and the thing that I was gonna say to you is um like I I also want people to know, I mean, yeah, you have so many attributes, so many different things that you've done, and I really admire that, and I like the idea that you're saying yes to a lot of things, because I think life's about that. And I think, you know, for me as a brain tuber survivor, you know, and someone that's always died, almost died a bunch of times, I think saying yes is a big deal. One of the things I want to touch on uh is you know, you have also uh in your in in your earlier days, you you decided, well, I'm gonna I can sing, I can do this, I can also model. And so it's it's in the book. It's in the book. It's in the book. I just I just thought that was so cool. Uh and you know it never it it would never occur to me to to model. I'm about I'm about I'm about 80 pounds too fat for that. But anyway. But well, you got the height. It's oh yeah, oh, I do have the height. And I got the swagger. I got the movement dagger. I mean, I so you know, but but I I just thought that was so interesting, and I was just wondering, um, this is a this is uh this is a podcast for nerds by nerds, so we like to deep dive. How did you come up with that idea to be modeling and and and were you able to see enough at that time to kind of understand like what kind of look you were going for? Because I I struggle with like you know, I've been I've been blind my whole life, and I struggle with like like a look. Like I so I just I just turn it over to my wife. I'm just like, you know, if she's if she's okay with how I look, it's probably right. But I don't really have a sense of like style per se. So how did how how did that all work for you?

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Yeah, you know, I wasn't actually into looks or style um when I was younger, and it started with me getting my nails done. So nothing else. I started just painting my nails, and I don't know why, but I like the way it make made me feel, even if I couldn't really like see them. I just felt like a little like hey, you know, and it was something I kind of did for me. Yeah. Um, and you know, yes, I would start to get more like compliments. Oh, your nails are pretty. And but it wasn't I didn't do it literally for the compliments, it just made me overall feel more confident. Um and then I started doing the next thing. I started you know wanting to like wear, you know, pumps, but not like crazy heels like I do now quite yet. And then I just but then I also like so my cheat is that like if I get a really nice cute little shirt um and it ends up like working, I'll just get like 17 of that shirt in different colors. So that's my cheat.

Joey Stuckey 40:50

I like that makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

It makes a lot of sense. So I have a bunch of like the same shirts, a bunch of the same pants, a bunch of the same skirts, and then it's people think I'm wearing all sorts of different outfits. It's like the same shape. Nobody knows. Um then it's like the best is the heels. I have like these seven-inch heels that I wear, and I have them in all sorts of different colors.

Joey Stuckey 41:08

I didn't know that. That's a bad that's a big heel.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

I'm always in heels. So and I can't even walk up flats anymore.

unknown 41:14

Why?

SPEAKER_01 41:15

I'm always in heels. And so and I and I love it because I love clomping down the street, right? And then the people in front of me have to turn around and then they see the cane, and so they have to dive.

SPEAKER_00 41:26

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

So that's why, you know, yeah. Listen, cane versus baby stroller, cane wins. I love it.

Joey Stuckey 41:32

Um, that too.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

There's a movie there. That whole title is the title. Um but I really, I really like started um doing that. But it was interesting because when I started putting myself out there for modeling, um, the agencies were like, oh, you don't look disabled enough. And I'm like, what? The the disabled agencies, like the disability agencies were like, you don't look disabled enough. And then the, you know, the non-disabled agencies were just like, oh, your look is interesting, but we're not really going for that, right? You know what I mean? Because obviously, you know, disability. Yeah. So I didn't fit in either box again, like from childhood. So I again had to make my own lane. And Glam Caes was a part of that, you know, my own fashion line.

Joey Stuckey 42:14

Now, do you and and this again, this is uber nerdy. I just I'm just curious now. I mean, do you do your own makeup? Do you can you contour? Can you blend? I mean, how does that work?

SPEAKER_01 42:23

I do not do my own makeup. Um, there are some blind girls that do. Um, I can. I I have. Actually, I have, but I have a much better makeup artist that it puts me to shame. Um, my makeup artist name is uh Arthur Gwynn.

Joey Stuckey 42:36

I know.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

So Arthur does my makeup, Arthur does my makeup, and it's so crazy because when Arthur started doing my makeup in 2021, when my makeup artist stopped coming in because of COVID, uh, he learned how to do it off of Reddit. So Reddit taught him. Yeah, he would take pictures of it and put it on the makeup addiction subreddit, which is like the largest makeup, you know, website. And they would say stuff like, ew, she looks gross, don't let her go outside. Like, try again. So I'm like, no. So then they coached him into becoming a great makeup artist. And now every time we post, we go viral. We have the highest um grossing or whatever highest viewed makeup uh picture online on Reddit. How cool we when we are walking down the street, we get chased down like continuously by people who recognize us from Reddit. Uh they'll be like, oh my God, I know you. And I'm like, wait, you know my music? They're like, no, I know you from the makeup. You do music? I'm like, oh.

Joey Stuckey 43:29

Well, there you go. Whatever laugh all the way to the bank, I say.

SPEAKER_01 43:32

Exactly, right? So, you know.

Joey Stuckey 43:34

Yeah, I'm I'm content to be recognized for something for anything, right? Yes. And I I told my wife, I said, you know, Joey would be uh laugh his way all the way to the bank, we'd be in a one hit wonder, got no problem with it at all. Sure, sure, not at all. You know, but that I that is so fascinating because I've often wondered, you know, like you know, I've 'cause I know because of of my sweet wife, um, she's always telling me how lovely you look and how you're just dressed in the nines and and Just you know, she's like, Oh, she looks great. And I thought I was always wondering, I was I wonder how you do makeup if you can't see it, because it seems like a hard challenge.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

Um he does the he does the makeup, and then you know, we I use um different sources for getting like dresses and whatnot. So we I mean I have my own stylist now, like we're you know, we big time now.

Joey Stuckey 44:20

Um nice, nice. Move it on.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

Nice, but move it on up. But I gotta say, like, let's say, for instance, if we wanted to use a quick rental like a service to get like a quick dress to go on a carpet, um I get I get the size I want. I always make sure that it is like easy to put on and put off. I prioritize comfort. Like I want to make it look like I'm uncomfortable, but actually be comfortable. Um interesting. You know what I mean? Because you want to look like, oh wow, she really how did she get into that? I'm like, I don't know, I just didn't know.

Joey Stuckey 44:52

That that is absolutely that was so that is so cool. Well, you know, the other thing I want to say is you've done um you've done so many collaborations uh as a as a singer and uh and and as an artist and and you know and in in lots of different genres, which I think is wonderful. I've got a recording uh uh that you did for me um that has not been released yet due to the fact that I was waiting on a friend of mine to bring me to to put something on it, and then it just got to be like, okay, I now now I don't have time to mix it, but it's coming. Uh it's it's it's in the canon, but it it's it will it will be released into the universe uh at the appropriate time, but it's coming. But but the thing is, like, I I just wonder like was that collaborative process? I mean, you have to really trust the other person, yeah, you know, to to to to bring who they are. Um because it's it's so tricky. So what how how what is your favorite collaboration? What what do you what what do you think you know what do you think about that?

SPEAKER_01 45:47

I've collaborated with so many amazing people like Apple to App from the Black IPs. He and I had done diseducation, that was really, really fun. Um I've collaborated with uh I don't know uh Black Caviar on Black Girl Cornrose, which was my song about um and Evie Odley, who won RuPaul's Drag Race.

SPEAKER_02 46:05

Oh yeah, very familiar.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Yeah, that song was about audio description, our self-description, Black Girl Cornrows. Um I've I've written with Snoop Dogg. I've like I've done a really a bunch of really great things, but I actually have to say my favorite collaboration has been just this overarching project that is magnificent, just because there are 70 collaborators. Um that's pretty impressive, yeah. And and a lot. And there are four producers, you know, myself, Lucy Calantari, Andrew, and Polly, the four of us produced it. So having like four people produce the entire album, that's already a lot of cooks in the kitchen. But it was really it was so great to be super collaborative with everyone. I love to collaborate. I came up on collaborating as uh an electronic dance music top liner and vocalist, and as a songwriter, that's just what you do. That's just the job. Like I I got I cut my teeth on being in rooms. And half the time, half the time, my job that I actually love the most is being the facilitator, not even the writer. Like, let's get everybody to feel good. Let's get everybody to feel like no idea is a dumb idea so that everyone can just go ham and just let all their crazy fly. And when you can have that happen, you end up with gold on the sheet. Um and so collaborating is just my bread, my butter, my it's always what I love to do. And I mean, listen, I love to be alone too and just write to my piano, especially, you know, with a little glass of wine or whatever, you know what it is. But to be able to take my lived experience and someone else's lived experience, I mean, this is why we're here. This is why we exist on this earth, is to create something new with others.

Joey Stuckey 47:35

So it's all about lifting everybody up. And I think that's so music, music is the best thing to do that with. And the other thing I was gonna say, you know, the other thing, you mentioned this, you know, being in the room um with people and and just getting to know new people, hear new stories, as well as sharing your own story, of course, which is great. But do you think in in this world of the internet, um, do you think it's still important to be uh if you want to have a career in music, to be in one of the hubs like New York, Nashville, LA? I mean, how much how much is that important, do you think, as an artist?

SPEAKER_01 48:09

Uh I think it is um if you want some of that energy, if you if you need the energy, you want to come to one of those hubs. That's if you need that energy because that energy is real. Like that is a real thing. Um, and and don't shell don't sell Atlanta short. Atlanta's a hub, Chicago's a hub, um, London's a hub. Um, but that energy is there. So I'm not going to discount that. But I will say it's not necessary. I mean, the way we collaborate these days, you can fly stuff back and forth, you can, you know, this and that, and you can get on these Zoom calls with a a manager that doesn't leave the house, right? So you know what I'm saying? I know a lot of what, you know, when I was coming up, I was managed by UK um management. You know, we never actually saw each other in person, right? You know what I'm saying? So that's a thing, especially post-COVID. No, you don't got to leave the house, you just gotta be good. Um, you do have to still network, though. You still gotta go to certain places, even if it's online places, to meet people because your network, your community, you don't ever want to send out you never want to send anything cold if you don't, if you can avoid it. Never want to send out a cold EPK. You always want to send it through your network because your network is gonna know where to place you. They're gonna, you know, and then you're gonna be able to give back to that network and cultivate it. But you don't necessarily physically have to be there. But I will also say the energy is real. You know, the New York energy is real, the New York hustle is real, the LA handshake is real. So the Nashville work ethic is real. So yes, yes.

Joey Stuckey 49:37

Yeah, I I I totally yeah, I totally agree with that because I mean, uh, you know, as a studio person myself that makes you know living doing studio stuff primarily, I think that the being the producer, the engineer, and the session musician pays for my habit of being an artist. Uh you know, so uh but but I mean but in all seriousness, I mean, yeah, we we work with clients all over the world because we can trade files. And that being said, though, there is something about being everybody being together and being in a place where things are happening and you know, and and being surrounded by that kind of momentum because that's that's kind of the trick is to get where the momentum is there, and then you just sort of hop on board, yeah. You know. So I like that.

SPEAKER_01 50:11

But I never want, but I never want, but again, you know, don't let it be a hindrance if you can't get there. Absolutely. Like there's it's there's gonna be money involved and time involved, etc. And if you don't have that, that doesn't mean that you don't have opportunity. I say like as long as you are skilled, like if you have your trainings up, your chops up, and you are willing to put yourself out there, the opportunity will come. The opportunity is everywhere and it'll come.

Joey Stuckey 50:35

Yeah, I I totally agree with that. What what was what was your we're we're getting close on our on the hour that we've we've been allowed, but what was your first major, in your mind, first major watershed sort of break that that let you know one, you were in the right business, and two, that you had a way to put food on the table.

SPEAKER_01 50:54

Ooh, you know what it was? Um, I actually some of the ways I make some nice coin is speaking. So I do a lot of speaking engagements. Um, but it's funny because, you know, I uh when I first started doing all this stuff, obviously I wanted to do music and I was doing a lot of like you were or you are production work, you know, in the studio, like trading files back and forth. And I was making a ton on that. I was fine, I was paying my bills that way. However, um, I started getting a bunch of speaking gigs as I became vocal about, you know, inclusion, disability, and all those things. And then I had thought to myself, like, I don't know that I want to be like a speaker, right? I want to be a rock star. So I so I would start bringing my keyboard to the speaking gigs. And so they'd say, like, hey, can you speak for 45 minutes? I'm like, yeah, but it's going to be a concert. And they're like, sure, whatever. And so I had this one, I had this really, I got invited to Disability Inn back in 2023. And I was doing my first tour that I put on by myself with my own like money and cash or whatever. And I was calling it the Disability Pride Tour. And one of the stops was Disability Inn. And that was in 2022 or 2023. I think it was 2023. And it was like a big crowd of a bunch of suits, right? Because it's it's a corporate gig. And I show up in this amazing dress, they had a piano for me, and I just blow the house down.

SPEAKER_02 52:22

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

I'm like, this is like the biggest gig I'd done for the most important people, right? These are all the CEOs of all the top corporations, and it was their like accessibility departments, their diversity departments, their HR departments. So it was like essentially an audition for all these places.

Joey Stuckey 52:37

Yeah, yeah. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 52:38

I blew the lid off the joint. Yeah, and and it was music and it was storytelling, it was fashion, I was cheeky, I was humorous. And then from that point forward, I mean, they all started booking me.

unknown 52:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:48

And that was when I knew like live performance, combining humor, just the fashion, just all of it. Like, let's give them all of it. So it wasn't just music, it was all of it. And that was probably one of the first times when I realized, like, this is not just about music, this is about entertainment.

Joey Stuckey 53:05

I love that. That is so cool. And and I I think that's I think that's a beautiful story. And and you know, I I've always um I've always felt like um, you know, the speaking and the entertaining like and the performing kind of go together. I I'm I'm a chatter anyway. So I like I like the chat. So so uh from from for for my shows, I mean, not all of them depends on if it's a showcase and you gotta go to a two songs, get off or whatever, that's different. But uh for my shows, you know, it's about 70% music, 30% bad jokes, and uh and it's just you know, it's just just and and um all the jokes were at my own expense, you know. I'm not making fun of it. I'm not gonna get beat up after the show if I can help it. Um so you know, but I mean, but it's it's really it's really a beautiful uh thing. I mean, that's a sympatico sort of approach to entertainment, and I love that. And also, you're not only reaching people through the entertainment and and and through the speaking, but you're you're able to slip in new ideas and change people the way people think about things um uh through humor and through music, which is really great. I mean, that's that's the whole that's the whole point. You're able to start, you know, working in like ideas. And I've always felt as an artist, and I take this a little too seriously, I'll admit it, but I always felt that we had a duty to to all to share new ideas and put them into the into the cultural consciousness, and then also to to be preservers of history, uh, which I'd like to close with that, because uh you educated me on a lot of disability history in your book. Uh and and and I think for anyone, I mean this it's fascinating. It's fascinating. I would love I would love for you to to to tell one more time, and I know I've probably told I've asked you to tell this story a many, many times, but the the the story with Judy Human and with and and with the how the Black Panthers were a major part of this incredible opportunity. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 54:54

Yeah, well, Judy Human was a huge mentor of mine, and um, she is a wheelchair user, and she was the one who really led that sit-in that led to eventually led to the ADA um back in the 70s. And a lot of folks praised Judy for it, and I praise her too. She's my dear friend and mentor, and she passed away in 2023, and you know, we made the song Lift Me Up that celebrated her and went viral and things like that. But um, I always want to make sure that we educate folks on Brad Lomax, who was um a wheelchair user as well, who was heavily part of that movement, who brought the Black Panthers in to make sure that that sit-in lasted 28 days. I mean, there were other sit-ins to try to get that bill passed, and they all died, right? They all died after like a day because everybody was disabled. And we need shit like oxygen and whatever. Yeah. Um, but the Black Panthers came in and gave food, blanket supplies, and security, right? Um, and so if it weren't for the Black Panthers, if it weren't for Brad Lomex bringing in the Black Panthers and convincing them that this all sort of mainly white movement also affected black folks, that we would have the ADA today, that we wouldn't have the enforcement of captions, curb cuts, all of these things that we um appreciate today happened because of a coalition between black and white and black folks. And so I tell people never to forget about Brad Lomax and his uh contribution. And so that story and a ton of other stories are in my book. I identify as blind, um, histories, stories of people of the past and today, um, a lot of humor, a lot of jokes. I just want people to be able to talk about these things without feeling a fear. Um, and I think that's our biggest thing. So that's what they're doing.

Joey Stuckey 56:33

It really is. And I have to say, if I recall correctly, uh Brad Lomax has mentioned in the song I played guitar on. So that was one of the Yes, yes, on purpose. Yeah, yeah. I just, yeah, I just I'm such a fan because I never knew that history. And I think for anyone, whether you're disabled or whether you're not, I mean, learning about some of this history, and of course learning about the fabulous Lachi as well is an absolute must. So I identify as blind as the book. The music can be found everywhere. Um, and uh, you know, for the right price, she'll come to your home and sing, right? So that's the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 57:03

Joey.

Joey Stuckey 57:04

Yeah, yeah. No, I'm sorry, that's me I'm thinking of. I forgot.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

Yes, that's you're thinking of.

Joey Stuckey 57:09

But listen, my friend, what a pleasure, what a privilege to just spend a little time in your company as always.

SPEAKER_00 57:14

Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Joey Stuckey 57:15

I'm so excited for all you're doing. It's absolutely fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 57:19

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Joey Stuckey 57:20

Thank you, my friend. Take care and thanks for joining us on Stuck on Sound.