English 
French As part of the podcast series, “ArtsAbly in Conversation,” Diane Kolin interviewed Kemal Gorey, a media composer and accessibility advocate living in Istanbul in Turkey.
This post presents the resources that Kemal Gorey mentioned during the conversation.
Kemal Gorey
Kemal Gorey is a professional composer, mainly working for the media industry; making arrangements and orchestrations for songwriters and producers. He also does orchestral mock-ups for fellow composers. His passion is to tell stories with music. Composing and designing tracks that serve motion picture in a perfect manner is his humble obsession. Since his childhood, music has been his trusted guide to fully internalize films, TV series, and video games. Music has always come to his rescue, when it was hard to catch a slight gesture of a character due to his specific visual impairment. He has always believed in the unique role of scoring in a picture, and how important it is to elevate the story for the audience. He is a proud member of the Able Artist Foundation (AAF) based in the United States. AAF works to support composers with disabilities from all around the world, and advocates for them in music and entertainment industries. He is also the secretary of RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities).
RAMPD
RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities) is a professional platform equipping the music and live entertainment industry with disability inclusive tools, programming and strategy. RAMPD also connects the industry to a global directory of peer-vetted music/sound creators and industry professionals with disabilities, neurodivergence and other chronic or mental health conditions, to find source and hire—bringing competitive opportunities, visibility and community to our Professional Members while offering disability inclusion to Industry/Venue partners. RAMPD’s Mission is to amplify Disability Culture, promote equitable inclusion, and advocate for inclusive and accessible spaces in the music and live entertainment industries. Founded in May of 2021 (and established January 2022) by award-winning recording artist and cultural activist Lachi, RAMPD came about after a public talk between the Recording Academy and several disabled artists revealed the serious lack of visibility, access, and representation for music professionals with disabilities.
Visit Kemal Gorey’s RAMPD profile
Able Artist Foundation (AAF)
Able Artist Foundation, or AAF, was created by film composer and SESAC recording artist, Stephen Letnes. AAF serves creative people with disabilities who are on fixed incomes. Our mission is two-fold: provide music development, education and mentorship to a select number of talented individuals through our artist-development training series of classes twice a year. And, to our members et al, grant access to purchase software products and services at substantial savings (50%-off ‘scholarships’) that are provided by our generous partners.
Visit Able Artist Foundation’s website
Stephen Letnes
Stephen Letnes is a blind American composer and the Executive Director of Able Artist Foundation (MN), co-founder of 1IN4 Coalition (Hollywood) and co-founder of RAMPD (NYC). Stephen has composed music for over 150 shorts, docs, and features including the EMMY-nominated documentaries “Beneath the Ink” and “Say His Name: Five Days for George Floyd”, features for Sony Pictures, European historical societies, and nonprofits that support people with disabilities. His films have been nominated and won many awards, including the ‘Bill Murray Comedic Award’ and ‘Best of Fest’ for Z-Fest, for the film “Lady Lillian” and his score for “Santa’s Boot Camp” was nominated for “Best Score” at the Love Int’l Film Festival in Los Angeles. Stephen (and his films) have been written about in Variety Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter and Ability Magazine.
Crip Camp
In the early 1970s, teenagers with disabilities faced a future shaped by isolation, discrimination and institutionalization. Camp Jened, a ramshackle camp “for the handicapped” (a term no longer used) in the Catskills, exploded those confines. Jened was their freewheeling Utopia, a place with summertime sports, smoking and make-out sessions awaiting everyone, and campers experienced liberation and full inclusion as human beings. Their bonds endured as many migrated West to Berkeley, California — a hotbed of activism where friends from Camp Jened realized that disruption, civil disobedience, and political participation could change the future for millions. Crip Camp is the story of one group of people and captures one moment in time. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of other equally important stories from the Disability Rights Movement that have not yet received adequate attention. We are committed to using the film’s platform to amplify additional narratives in the disability rights and disability justice communities – with a particular emphasis on stories surrounding people of color and other intersectionally marginalized communities. We stand by the creed of nothing about us, without us. For too long, too many were excluded, and it is time to broaden the number of voices and share the mic.
Lachi
Lachi is a singer-songwriter, touring performer, producer, actress, author, disability advocate and cultural activist based in New York City. Lachi’s music is often described as Pop or Dance music. She is legally blind, due to Coloboma. Throughout 2021 and 2022, Lachi established herself as a go-to disability advocate in the music industry, speaking with and performing at places like the White House, the United Nations, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and the BBC, among other notable appearances. Lachi is the founder of RAMPD. Starting in 2022, RAMPD began partnering with the Recording Academy to help make the Grammy Awards more accessible: working to add a visibly ramped dais, Sign language interpreters, live captioning, and Audio description, American Sign Language and ramps on the red carpet. In February 2024, Lachi was named a 2024 Woman of the Year by USA Today.
Karina Sturm
Karina Sturm is a multi-media journalist and filmmaker from Germany who has lived in San Francisco for seven years. She gained significant scientific knowledge through studying laboratory technology and working in research for several years. Due to a chronic illness and invisible disability, she found her passion for media production and has been working as a freelance journalist since 2013. In 2019, she finished her Master’s degree by producing a feature-length documentary called ”We Are Visible” to highlight how to improve reporting on people with disabilities in media. ”We Are Visible” has won several movie awards, while Karina graduated with distinction from her journalism program. Karina’s main focus is to represent people with illnesses and disabilities accurately in the media to reduce biases and stereotypes. She thinks disabled journalists should be reporting on disability.