1 00:00:01,466 --> 00:00:03,633 JUDY WOODRUFF: And now to the story of a song called "Spaces." 2 00:00:03,633 --> 00:00:07,533 It's one made by and for the disabled community. 3 00:00:07,533 --> 00:00:11,866 While the song highlights a disease known as spinal muscular atrophy, 4 00:00:11,866 --> 00:00:16,866 or SMA, it also celebrates the talent of the much broader disability community. 5 00:00:18,300 --> 00:00:20,333 It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas. 6 00:00:20,333 --> 00:00:25,033 JAMES IAN, Singer & Songwriter, "Spaces": I have spinal muscular atrophy Type 3. It pretty 7 00:00:27,033 --> 00:00:31,266 much affects all of the physical aspects of my life. Spinal muscular atrophy is a 8 00:00:33,833 --> 00:00:37,433 neurodegenerative muscular condition that affects your muscles and weakens your muscles over time. 9 00:00:43,566 --> 00:00:48,533 My name is James Ian. I'm the singer of the song "Spaces." 10 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:54,233 I also wrote "Spaces" along with Barry Weeks, Tom Rowland, and other members of the SMA community. 11 00:00:56,700 --> 00:01:00,100 "Spaces" is a song created by the SMA community 12 00:01:01,433 --> 00:01:03,633 for people with disabilities, for the SMA community. 13 00:01:10,833 --> 00:01:14,166 I started out playing piano, always have been a singer. 14 00:01:14,166 --> 00:01:17,933 And then I just started picking up other instruments as I got older. 15 00:01:17,933 --> 00:01:22,100 SMA does make playing instruments more difficult due to fatigue, 16 00:01:22,100 --> 00:01:25,866 so I have to be smart about how to conserve energy and work with SMA. 17 00:01:36,166 --> 00:01:40,366 DOMINICK EVANS: I was interested in the concept of spaces. 18 00:01:40,366 --> 00:01:42,366 You, James, came up with that one? 19 00:01:42,366 --> 00:01:44,466 JAMES IAN: Yes, the thought for that one... 20 00:01:44,466 --> 00:01:48,933 Having that brainstorm with the SMA community and having our voices really be heard and 21 00:01:50,933 --> 00:01:54,233 be the ones that created this thing, I don't think that's been done before. We often don't 22 00:01:57,733 --> 00:02:02,700 think that we're seen or considered or heard, and people kind of just look over us or look past us. 23 00:02:04,133 --> 00:02:05,700 And so we really, really wanted to be seen. And so 24 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,033 "Spaces" is about that. It's like, we have disabilities, we have SMA, 25 00:02:10,033 --> 00:02:14,333 but we're out here in the world, like, doing really, really cool, amazing things. 26 00:02:14,333 --> 00:02:19,300 I teared up when I saw those photos come to life, because they were just so spectacular. 27 00:02:19,300 --> 00:02:24,300 Dominick Evans was the director and came up with the concept for the music video. 28 00:02:26,333 --> 00:02:30,933 Dominick was directing from home via iPad. And then Zach Merck was the director on the ground. 29 00:02:32,900 --> 00:02:37,366 It was really cool that, even though Dominick couldn't be there in the room with us, 30 00:02:37,366 --> 00:02:42,366 that everyone made sure Dominick was like the guiding voice and very, very included. 31 00:02:44,300 --> 00:02:48,133 I hope this also shows that you can do projects with people with disabilities from 32 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,166 inception to finalized product. They can create it, 33 00:02:55,166 --> 00:03:00,200 they can write it, they can sing it, they can act in it, they can model in the project, and they 34 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:05,166 can be amazing projects that the whole world will love and can see and want to emulate. 35 00:03:06,266 --> 00:03:11,266 JUDY WOODRUFF: I 36 00:03:13,233 --> 00:03:16,500 really love that. What a wonderful piece of music. 37 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:20,900 And the song, sponsored by pharmaceutical company Genentech, was 38 00:03:20,900 --> 00:03:25,900 just released and can be found online at smamyway.com and on YouTube.