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4B —Thursday, April 5, 2018
b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SECONDARY 

For people with disabilities, 

engaging in the arts can be 
a 
frustrating 
and 
isolating 

experience. Around the world, 
countless theaters, museums 
and concert halls lack the 
proper 
accommodations 

necessary to be accessible to 
people with disabilities. In the 
last half-century, the global 
disability 
rights 
movement 

has made significant strides in 
securing the rights of people 
with disabilities to lead full, 
independent lives. Despite this 
progress, however, there’s still 
work to be done. Deaf actor and 
model Nyle DiMarco recently 
reminded people of this after 
a series of his tweets spurred 
controversy 
surrounding 

AMC Theaters’ subpar closed-
captioning system for deaf and 
hard-of-hearing moviegoers.

“I’m 
really 
disappointed,” 

DiMarco tweeted. “Theaters 
are basically for all the able-
bodied 
people.” 
DiMarco 

made note of the faulty closed-
captioning devices used at AMC 
theaters, which are often prone 
to inaccuracies and skipping 
lines. Stories like DiMarco’s 
have led to an influx of pressure 
on movie theaters to upgrade 
their 
equipment 
or 
offer 

more frequent showings with 
on-screen closed captioning. 
The frustrations of DiMarco 
and other deaf moviegoers, 
however, are only a symptom 
of a greater problem affecting 
the arts: Accessibility for people 
with disabilities is often not 
taken into account.

It is the privilege of able-

bodied people to not have to 

worry about how they’ll be 
able to get up a flight of stairs, 
navigate a crowded museum or 
enjoy the show they’re trying to 
attend. It stands to reason, then, 
that this lack of accessibility 
comes more from ignorance 
than anything else. The unique 
needs of people with disabilities 
may seldom be thought of in 
the corporate boardrooms that 
make decisions which impact 
accessibility 
at 
arts-related 

venues. It’s a problem that’s 
worsened by the lack of exposure 
to invisible disabilities. Some 
forms of autism, for example, 
may make it difficult for people 
to be in crowded areas or deal 
with sudden loud noises, while 
long restroom lines may be 
prohibitive for individuals with 
Crohn’s Disease.

It is absolutely crucial that 

the arts be accessible for all 
people, and the current lack of 
accessibility is unacceptable. 
Art isn’t just entertainment; 
it’s a form of interpersonal 
communication 
meant 
to 

transcend barriers of language, 
race and national origin. It 
highlights how we are far more 
similar than different. If art 
venues aren’t doing everything 
feasibly within their power 
to ensure that the arts can be 
accessed and enjoyed by all 
people, then they are doing 
an active disservice to the 
advancement of the arts as a 
whole. Film, music and other 
mediums occupy a massive 
portion of our collective societal 
attention, and the right of 
people with disabilities to enjoy 
art and partake in these social 
phenomena 
is 
instrumental 

to their ability to lead normal, 
fulfilling and independent lives.

Luckily, 
there 
are 
art 

institutions 
and 
venues 

striving to do it right. In 2014, 
English National Ballet turned 
their sights toward creating 
accessible children’s media. The 
company decided to put on their 
own adaptation of the ballet 
“Coppélia.” The ballet tells 
the story of Doctor Coppélius, 
a cantankerous old inventor 
who builds a life-sized dancing 
automaton. 
The 
company’s 

production, titled “My First 
Coppélia,” was intended to 
be a simplified version of the 
classic 1870 ballet, complete 
with 
numerous 
accessibility 

measures to ensure all children 
would be able to enjoy the 
show. Striving to make the 
show accessible to children 
with 
autism, 
the 
company 

scrutinized 
their 
lighting, 

sound effects and narrative. 
They reworked the dancing 
role of Doctor Coppélius into 
an 
on-stage 
narrator 
and 

brought a British Sign Language 
consultant on board to teach the 
dancers and narrator key signs 
to aid deaf and hard-of-hearing 
children. 
The 
production 

also 
incorporated 
a 
digital 

companion that used Widgit 
symbols, an alternative form of 
communication used by those 
with 
certain 
communicative 

impairments. 
“My 
First 

Coppélia” was the first in a 
whole series of modified ballets, 
titled 
“My 
First 
Inclusive 

Ballet.”

The Louvre in France has 

also taken notable steps to 

enhance museum accessibility. 
The museum is housed in what 
was once the Louvre Palace, 
originally built in the 12th 
and 13th centuries by King 
Philip II, which is not exactly 
what comes to mind when you 
think of accessible structures. 
Nevertheless, the museum has 
taken extraordinary measures 
to 
ensure 
accessibility 
for 

all guests, including special 
tours for guests with mobility 
impairments. 
The 
Louvre 

reports 
these 
tours 
serve 

roughly 10,000 guests per year. 
In 1995, the museum installed 
the Tactile Gallery, a permanent 
exhibit for the visually impaired 
in which the museum’s golden 
rule — do not touch — is 
encouraged to be broken. “Some 
people run their hands over the 
works, and some even knock on 
them to understand the material 
of which they’re made,” the 
Los Angeles Times wrote in a 
proflie of Cyrille Gouyette, the 
co-head of the gallery. In the 
piece Gouyette said: “There’s 
really a way to learn how to 
touch, with habits to learn.” The 
gallery contains exact replicas 
of original works and is one 
of a growing number of touch 
galleries and tours found in 
museums around the world.

In comparison to many of 

the 
innovative 
accessibility 

advancements 
being 
made 

throughout 
the 
world, 

accessibility in art spaces at the 
University seems to be a mixed 
bag. The University Musical 
Society, for example, organizes 
musical 
performances 
in 

various venues across campus, 
including Hill Auditorium, the 
Power Center for Performing 
Arts and Rackham Auditorium. 
UMS offers a noted array of 
accessibility measures in the 
venues it uses; these include 
programs in large print and 
braille, 
assistive 
listening 

devices, and American Sign 
Language 
interpretation 

An investigation into the 
accessibility within arts

MAX MICHALSKY

Daily Arts Writer

Courtesy of Nyle DiMarco

SINGLE REVIEW: ‘BE CAREFUL’

 Contrary to what Cardi B 
may have lead you to believe on 
her previous releases, she has a 
fragile side. While “Be Careful” 
is certainly a scathing post-
breakup track, its chorus doesn’t 
shy away from Cardi’s vulner-
ability: “Yeah, my heart is like a 
package with a fragile label on it 
/ Be careful with me.” Trading 
in the booming atmosphere of 
her party anthems, Cardi raps 
and croons over a lilting, tender 
synth line, undercut with sparse 
snares and only the subtlest 
ripple of bass. It’s a total 180 in 
comparison to hits “Bodak Yel-
low” and “Bartier Cardi,” but an 

impressive, intriguing lead up to 
the release of a new album next 
Friday, Apr. 6.
 On “Be Careful,” the phrase 
takes on a double meaning. Cardi 

warns her past lover that actions 
have consequences, while warn-
ing future lovers that she won’t 
tolerate offense or infidelity. She 
raps on the second verse, “Teach 
me to be like you so I can not 

give a fuck / Free to mess with 
someone else, I wish these feel-
ings could melt / ’Cause you don’t 
care about a thing except your 
mothafuckin’ self,” spiteful of her 
own emotions and the apathy of a 
significant other. The lyricism is 
surprisingly emotional here, and 
much more introspective than 
most of her previous work. It’s 
anyone’s guess if this lead single 
is indicative of the tone for the 
rest of the album, but thankfully 
we only have a few more days 
before finding out.

— Dominic Polsinelli, 

Senior Arts Editor

“Be Careful”

Cardi B

Atlantic Records

ATLANTIC RECORDS

available with advance notice.

At 
other 
University 

institutions, 
such 
as 
the 

University of Michigan Museum 
of Art, accessibility seems to 
typically meet only the bare 
minimum. All of the museum’s 
exhibits 
are 
wheelchair 

accessible, 
and 
wheelchairs 

are available upon request. The 
museum’s Diversity, Equity and 
Inclusion plan states American 
Sign Language interpretation is 
available, but such a service isn’t 
directly advertised anywhere 
on the museum’s website.

To its credit, the museum 

does 
have 
occasional 

programs featuring increased 
accessibility, such as the “My 
Turn” 
Special 
ASD 
Access 

Hours, which has been held 
once a year for the last two 
years. The program is intended 
for 
families 
with 
children 

affected by Autism spectrum 
disorder and features “sensory 
reducing 
accessories 
and 
a 

quiet area with tactile toys.” 
While these efforts are a step 
in the right direction, it’s not 

enough for an institution to be 

inclusive and accessible for one 

day a year. Greater accessibility 
standards should be the norm, 
not a special occasion. Until 
these 
accessibility 
measures 

are applied on a more consistent 
and permanent scale, it’s hard to 
say the University’s art spaces 
are 
accomplishing 
anything 

more than meeting the bare 
minimum 
of 
accessibility 

standards.

It’s unlikely that all art 

spaces will ever be completely 
accessible 
to 
all 
people, 

but it’s important that any 
institution committed to the 
advancement of the arts also be 
on the forefront of innovative 
accessibility 
measures. 
This 

is because art is, at its core, 
meant to be a documentation 
of the human experience — to 
leave anyone out is to detract 
from that fundamental goal. 
These ongoing innovations in 
accessibility of art spaces form 
the cornerstone of an ongoing 
effort to make the arts available 
to 
everyone, 
regardless 
of 

race, religion, background or 
disability. 

CARDI B. 

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW: ‘BARTIER CARDI’

 As a song, “Bartier Cardi” is 
self-indulgent. From the opening 
line, “Your bitch wanna party 
with Cardi,” Cardi B makes it 
known that she’s not here to be 
humble. Celebrating her new-
found fame and fortune, Cardi B 
revels in the luxury that comes 
with being the center of pop 
culture attention. With “Bartier 
Cardi,” she has her cake and 
eats it too, wearing her Cinder-
ella crown with pride, dropping 
verses about her diamonds, her 
Ferrari, her Offset without even a 
second glance.
 It makes sense, then, that the 
music video for “Bartier Cardi” 
is equally as ostentatious, glit-
tering with excessive opulence 
and starring Cardi B: necklaces 
winking in the spotlight, nearly 
engulfed by a bright red fur coat, 
blonde hair piled high. Marilyn 
Monroe, eat your heart out.
 The video opens on the sun-
bleached decks of a pool house, 
marble statues waving from the 
peripheries as Cardi B mutters, 
“Bardi in a ’Rari, diamonds all 
over my body / Shinin’ all over 
my body,” in the background. 

Wealth is disposable here: shots 
of dollar bills lying forgotten 
in the water, rooms overrun by 
elaborate fruit plates and fur-
niture arrangements and girls 
in every corner, reclining in fur 

robes, swiping the frosting off of 
cakes with one bored finger.
 In every location of the music 
video, as it moves from the pool 
to a dimly lit labyrinth where 
men with eight-packs walk 
around like Ken dolls before 
finally ending at an underground 
party, Cardi B is omnipresent. 
She watches on from television 
sets placed in discreet corners, 
as girls count endless piles of 
money. She shows her influence 
through the “Cardi” tattoos that 
grace each of the shirtless men’s 
necks. These people are her 
accessories. Fallen completely 
under her spell, they can’t take 

their eyes off her pixelated image 
on the screen. Even 21 Savage 
ends up entranced, after being 
tied up in front of a row of glar-
ing TVs in a scene taken straight 
out of “1984.”
 At times, “Bartier Cardi”’s 
music video can be overdone; the 
shots of Cardi reclining on the 
hood of a car coupled with clips 
of Cardi and Offset wrapped 
around each other in that same 
car’s backseat borders on cliché 
— a lower quality version of what 
Beyoncé already did in “Parti-
tion.”
 But, to be fair, this is Cardi 
B — the woman who once said 
she would most likely find her 
dream man in a strip club — so 
over the top can be expected, 
even embraced. After all, she 
never seems happier or more 
comfortable than she does at the 
end of the music video, as a beau-
tiful bride dressed head to toe 
in white (fur coat on, as always), 
walking into a party created just 
for her. 

-Shima Sadaghiyani, 

Daily Music Editor

“Bartier Cardi”

Cardi B ft. 21 

Savage

Atlantic Records

ATLANTIC RECORDS

If art venues 

aren’t doing 

everything 

feasibly within 

their power 

to ensure that 

the arts can 

be accessed 

and enjoyed 

by all people, 

then they are 

doing an active 

disservice to the 

advancement of 

the arts as 

a whole

These ongoing 

innovations in 

accessibility of 

art spaces form 

the cornerstone 

of an ongoing 

effort to make 

the arts available 

to everyone, 

regardless of 

race, religion, 

background or 

disability

In comparison 

to many of 

the innovative 

accessibility 

advancements 

being made 

throughout 

the world, 

accessibility in 

art spaces at the 

University seems 

to be a mixed bag

