NYC Musician Lachi Shares on Her First Children’s Record That Celebrates Disability and Neurodiversity

NYC musician Lachi’s vibe is so infectiously joyous that simply seeing her perform with her signature bedazzled cane in Manhattan makes me want to hop on a subway to join her. Instead of shying away from the spotlight or trying to hide her insecurities, Lachi, who is legally blind and once struggled to accept her ADHD, embraces them. 

Watching her, and bopping my head as she spouts lyrics to synth-pop beats, I find myself wanting to bask in her free-spirited energy. To love myself as I am, wrinkles and all. 

It’s crazy to think that not too long ago, Lachi, who enthusiastically identifies as a neurodivergent, disabled human, was once just a young, artistically inclined girl who sought comfort in making music to escape the pain of feeling different. Self-acceptance was hardly on her radar. Now, it’s infused into every aspect of her world — and the world of those in her orbit.

But that’s exactly why the founder of the U.N.-recognized RAMPD felt inspired to create her first children’s record, Magnificent, out July 10 (Platoon Kids). The idea for her 10-song record crystallized after years of hearing parents complain that they couldn’t find content that celebrates disabled and/or neurodivergent kids without turning those kids into a “lesson.” 

“I decided I wanted to write an album for my 8-year-old self,” Lachi tells Rockmommy. “The girl who never really had a ‘her’ to look up to. I brought together more than 70 collaborators, including Grammy winners, disability advocates, educators, and families.”

A musical fusion of pop, hip hop, R&B, and global rhythms, Magnificent brings together more than seventy collaborators, including musicians, writers, and advocates with disabilities, neurodivergence, and other lived experiences. The list — which includes  123 Andrés, Alphabet Rockers, Mega Ran, Lisa Loeb, Matthew Whitaker, Raul Midón, Mandy Harvey, Divinity Roxx — is pretty awesome. 

The result, an upbeat perspective on disability that segues from the dance-pop lead off single “Fidget,” which fuses hip-hop lyrical musings with a hypnotic beat, the reggaeton gem “Soy Diferente,” and (my favorite), the album’s title track, “Magnificent.”

The album will have a companion curriculum from CEL’s The Nora Project, helping classrooms continue conversations around identity, inclusion, and belonging through each song’s themes and lyrics. 

We caught up with Lachi to learn more. 

Rockmommy: Hi Lachi! For those who don’t know you, can you tell us a bit about your background as a musician? 

Lachi: I’m a recording artist, producer, author, and disability culture advocate who’s spent the last several years making pop, dance, hip-hop and now family music that celebrates difference. Because I identify as blind, neurodivergent, a New Yorker, and a daughter to immigrant parents (and an Aries), confidence was always somewhere in my blood, but the stigmas I came across growing up often kept me from being able to access that confidence. So today I’m fiercely passionate about smashing stigma with everything I do, whether through music, storytelling, fashion, humor, or pop bops for kids.

My inspirations were all over the map. I loved the storytelling of Lauryn Hill, the theatricality of Alicia Keys. But I also found more subtle inspirations, like seeing Lisa Loeb on TV confidently rocking large glasses, as a kid who also had to wear coke-bottles due to my super low vision, made me feel a little more seen long before I knew the word “representation.”

I started writing songs in elementary school, mostly as a way to process feelings that didn’t quite fit into words. Songwriting was and still is how I make sense of the world. It’s always an honor to find that a song of mine has been able to put into words the unsung feelings of listeners just waiting for that exact lyric sung in that exact way.

Rockmommy: Did you initially try to channel your feelings about being different into your music? Did having ADHD help your creativity?

Lachi: Absolutely. Before I had the language for neurodivergence awareness or Disability Culture, I had songs. Because I was often penalized in the education system for stimming, daydreaming, and having trouble paying attention, despite the high grades, music became the place where I could be messy, curious, emotional, and nonlinear without anyone asking me to “focus.”

For a long time, I thought something was wrong with me because I learned differently and processed the world differently. I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up and was super shy, navigating the mix of shame I felt due to being neurodivergent and legally blind. Today; however, I’m a social butterfly, super confident, almost always laughing! But I’m still neurodivergent and legally blind. So looking back I recognize those were never the issue.

The challenge was never my brain or my body. It was environments that weren’t designed for brains and bodies like mine to thrive. Once I embraced neurodiversity instead of fighting it, my creativity soured and opportunities exploded.

Rockmommy: Your album is so uplifting, but clearly took a lot of hard work. When did you first get the idea for a record that celebrates disability and neurodiversity?

Lachi: The idea crystallized after years of hearing parents say, “We can’t find content that celebrates our kids without turning them into a lesson.” So much content, music, TV, and media out there about neurodivergence and disability is…let’s just say it…straight up corny. It comes from a lens of pity, a lens of “curism” (a term I coined meaning focusing on a cure instead of a life), or from a lens of grievance, compliance, and paperwork. 

When my vision got to a point where I could no longer use it to navigate the way I had been for years, I came to a realization. I’m blind, but I’m not corny, so why is all the content out there that represents me corny? Honestly, it was kind of that simple.

It started in 2022 with my dance song “Black Girl Cornrows” ft Yvie Oddly and Black Caviar which celebrated my visual description (the practice of describing what one looks like so blind folks have access). I then released the single and video Lift Me Up in 2023 honoring my friend, mentor, and disability activist, Judy Heymann. After the video went viral, and the song charted on the HotAC charts, I realized there was a word in which songs amplifying disability in a compelling, competitive way could exist alongside the pop culture hits of today.

After a few more bops centering my experience made viral waves, I decided I wanted to write an album for my 8-year-old self. The girl who never really had a ‘her’ to look up to. I brought together more than 70 collaborators, including Grammy winners, disability advocates, educators, and families. We blended pop, hip hop, Afrobeats, Latin rhythms, R&B, and dance music because Disability isn’t one genre, and neither are our disability experiences.

Magnificent invites the world to celebrate kids and each other exactly as they are.

Rockmommy: Do you think there is enough art out there that celebrates being differently abled or disabled?

Lachi: I love this question! I strongly encourage folks to just say DIS-abled instead of ‘differently’-abled, because there’s nothing wrong with disability and the disability identity that needs to be euphemized. The Disability community prefers the pre-fix dis, because it is ‘dis’-tinct, ‘dis’-tinguished, and…who doesn’t love a good ‘dis’-count!

To your question, too often disability shows up in the media as something to overcome, fix, or inspire someone else. That’s a pretty exhausting job description.

Disabled people experience joy, silliness, confidence, friendship, romance and dance parties just like everyone else. We deserve stories where disability isn’t trauma but a natural experience. 

That’s why representation behind the scenes matters, too. When directors, producers, musicians, marketers, and executives with disabilities and neurodivergence are creating the work, the stories become richer and more authentic.

Through my Glam Canes fashion line, my organization RAMPD.org, my book I Identify as Blind, and through this album Magnificent, I work to show off Disability through a lens of culture, community, lived experience and joy. Disability isn’t “special.” It’s normal. In fact, the disability tropes we see on TV are actually the exception. Disability is anxiety. It’s chronic muscle pain. It’s depression. It’s tinnitus. Once disability is woven naturally into our art and culture, everybody wins because we all get a more honest picture of humanity.

Rockmommy: What does Disability Pride Month mean to you?

Lachi: Disability Pride Month is a celebration, saying “no thank you, I’m not listening” to the stigma surrounding Disability.

It’s a chance to honor Disability as culture, identity, and community, while recognizing the generations of advocates who fought for the rights many of us benefit from today. People like Brad Lomax and Judy Heumann.

It’s an invitation. Whether you identify as disabled or not, this month asks all of us to imagine a world designed with more creativity, flexibility, and belonging.

As someone who’s legally blind and neurodivergent, I spent years trying to minimize my differences. Disability Pride taught me that those differences aren’t flaws to fixed. The problem isn’t my condition, the problem is society’s conditioning. My differences are strengths that shape how I create, connect, and lead.

Pride means building a world where every kid grows up seeing themselves reflected, respected, and celebrated. Happy #DisabilityPrideMonth !

Rockmommy: What message do you hope to impart on your listeners?

Lachi: I hope every listener walks away thinking, “I don’t have to earn my worth by becoming someone else.” Whether you identify as disabled, neurodivergent, or simply feel like you don’t fit the mold, you already belong.

I also hope kids and adults from all walks learn that difference isn’t something to fear or pity. It’s something to celebrate, lean into, and (like in my case) forge a full-fledged purpose out of.

I want kids to start asking better questions, holding ableism to account the way only kids can do, become more accepting, or feel just a little more seen.

I also just want some really good, I mean really good, music out there. This is definitely a first-of-its-kind album getting folks to really get down with the music while also learning, unmasking, and growing on an often unspoken topic.

If Magnificent gets families dancing together, laughing together, and having conversations they might not have had before, then we’ve done our job.

Rockmommy: Let’s talk about collaborations! How did you pick the artists who appear with you on this album?

Lachi: Talent got them in the room. Heart kept them there! With over 70 collaborators (55+ of whom identify with neurodivergence, disability, or other condition), I was super duper heck-bent on having this be a project that included and uplifted people with actual lived experience.

The Producers: I’ve known Lucy Kalantari for over twenty years. She was one of the first people I met when I moved to New York City and hit the singer-songwriter scene. She was one of the first people who said hello to me years later when I went to a party and used my white cane for the first time. She introduced me to Andrew Barkan with hopes to build the bridge of two legally blind people she knew. So Lucy producing on this project celebrating disability was obvious. And through the process we discussed and discovered so much about our conditions. Andrew and also I had many hour-long conversations about our blindness. Those conversations slowly formed into songs. Naturally I asked he and Polly Hall to jump onto the production team, and the dream team was off.

I also wanted to feature collaborators who genuinely believed in celebrating disability, inclusion, and childhood joy. Everyone from family music artists like Lisa Loeb (who I was honored to meet and work with due to her impact on me early on), 123 Andrés, Alphabet Rockers, Mega Ran and Divinity Roxx. 

To talented folks open about their Disability or neurodivergent identity, like Matthew Whitaker, Raúl Midón, Mandy Harvey, and Tangina Stone. To prominent advocates like Dom Kelly, Wawa Snipe, poet Lateaf McLead, Jim Labrecht, Jay Thomas Manuel, Jenna Bainbridge, and many, many more. Everyone brought something unique to the album, not just musically but personally.

Though many of the collaborators have lived experience with disability, while others have spent years advocating for inclusion, we put together the Barriers for Breakfast Club: a cohort of disabled and neurodivergent folks who advised us on how to keep the songs in community. This group consisted of activists, creators, parents, and educators. All these shared values made the recording sessions feel like straight up community building.

Rockmommy: You’re including a limited CD edition featuring a liner note insert that doubles as a coloring book, with printable and online versions available for families and classrooms. Why did you decide to create an educational component?

Lachi: Because the conversation shouldn’t stop when the music stops. We’re adding a limited CD color-ing books print to match with extensive liner notes, and we are also releasing a full paired curriculum for schools created in partnership with CEL’s The Nora Project. Each lesson in the curriculum unit would match the vibe, movement, and takeaways of each track.

Every song opens the door to discussions about empathy, communication, identity, and belonging. I wanted parents, educators, caregivers, and kids to have tools that make those conversations easy, fun, and timeless. 

The coloring pages in the CD booklet and the activity sheets in the curriculum turn listening into participation. Beyond hearing songs, kids are drawing, asking questions, learning sign, exploring different ways people (including themselves) move, think, and communicate, and celebrating each other’s uniqueness.

As an artist, I love making music. As an advocate, I love making change. As a life long learner, I love continuing to heal my inner child.  This project lets me do all three.

Rockmommy: I love your social media videos. They are so inspiring and fun! I imagine it wasn’t always easy to radiate fun and confidence. What would you say to your younger self?

Lachi: I’d tell little Lachi, “Give me a chance! Me, the little weird freckle wart hidden in the depths of your heart. Stop trying so hard to blend me in. You’re going to impact millions and make a whole career out of shouting me out!”

I spent years thinking confidence meant pretending I wasn’t struggling. Masking. Now I know confidence is letting people see the whole picture, little weird freckle wards and all!

I’d also tell her that the things people tease you for today will literally become the things people praise you for, they become the things that you use to help so many other people who need to hear your voice and your story. That ADHD gets you a book deal. That OCD builds you an award-winning organization in RAMPD.org. That blindness starts you a fashion line. And all of those things combined gives you the drive, determination, ingenuity and leadership to create Magnificent.

Don’t wait for permission to take up space. Right now I’m just a little freckle wart, but nurture me and let me grow. I promise you, I am the seed to something magnificent.