I know exactly what you're saying when you
say when you're sitting at home writing
and you're not like, I'm deaf, I'm deaf
I say the same for me When I'm
sitting down doing my makeup
I'm not like uh I'm blind, I'm blind
Like, I'm not thinking about my
blindness, I'm just living my life
because this is our normal (Music)
Hello everybody, we are back
with my series , when I sit down
with another person
from the disability community
and we disscuss all things
life and disability related
and this one is probably the
most requested that I've seen.
So we finally have Jessica
and I'm gonna let you say your
last name
(Laughs) Jessica Kellgren-Fozard
It's ok, I know, it's a difficult surname
we literally went over this before
we started filming
We've just been like talking on
Google Meet
And I was like, practicing the name
and I was like no, you know what,
I got here, I was too deep,
I was like, I'm jumping
out of the pool.
She'll take over. So thank you-
It's complex. The Kellgren bit is Swedish,
the Fozard is my wife's surname,
it's from Normandy, smush it together,
it's complicated for everyone.
Or Jessica Out Of The Closet,
which I think is a brilliant name
because not only are you one of
the most fabulous fashionistas
that I follow on social media,
but you are also in fact out of
the closet, and so I think it's just
such a fun username.
(Laughs) Yeah,
out of the closet in many ways.
Out of the gay closet, out of the
disability closet, just living life open.
That's the way to live life.
Being your best, most authentic,
confident queen self. And that is
exactly what you do.
I watch your videos and I
legitimately laugh out loud.
Like you're one of, not only the most
fashionable people I follow but one of
the funniest people I follow,
and I think that you, just by simply
being you, break so many disability
stereotypes and misconceptions,
and I think it's so fabulous for just-
so thank you for just exisiting
on the internet.
(Laughs) I mean, I could say
the same thing about you, Molly.
I woke up this morning and I was like,
OK, Molly, you have to try to look, like,
a little bit half fabulous
because you're going to be sitting next to
Jessica in a video and it's going
to be embarrassing.
Oh no, I think you are incredibly stylish,
I must say. I always enjoy
your Instagram as well.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
So, I know a ton of my audience
knows and loves your content already
but for those who don't, would you like to
kind of give the brief introduction of who
Jessica is in a nutshell.
My goodness, okay, the elevator pitch
of me, then, I guess.
So, I'm Jessica, I'm a YouTuber,
content creator. I make content that is
generally fun, informative, educational,
amusing, around things that are to do with
disability, chronic illness, and LGBTQ+
issues. So I have two genetic conditions,
hereditary neuropathy with pressure
palsies, which means that there are gaps
in the myelin sheaths around your nerves.
For me that means that I can paralyze
parts of myself, that my nerves are more
easily damaged, which does things like
affect my hearing and I have loss of
vision in one eye because of it, and it
can do things like my hands don't have
any feeling because I paralyzed both of
my arms for a year and a half when I was
a teenager. And they came back to a
certain degree, but they can't now feel
anything, so it's like wearing gloves
all of the time. And I don't get hot and
cold, any of those kinds of things,
or wet. Which is really annoying when
you're trying to hang up the washing,
'cause you're like, is this wet?
Is this dry? Absolutely no idea.
And I end up having to like, press my face
to all of my laundry to see whether it's
dry or not. Very strange thing.
And then you just get a random cheek stain
or random foundation stain on the side
of your white shirt.
I mean, I should add, I only do this when
I'm not wearing makeup. (Laughs)
Pro tip.
And then I also have Ehlers Danlos
Syndrome, which is about my connective
tissue, and means that not only am I
hyper mobile, and very flexible and bendy,
which most people think is like, whoa,
what a great party trick, and it is,
it's a pretty good party trick that I
perhaps overused when I was a child.
I dislocated various things just to prove
to people that I could. Don't do that.
That's a terrible idea. Don't do that.
But it also affects connective tissue in
things like my internal organs,
so I have some issues with my heart, and
I have postural orthostatic tachycardia
syndrome, which comes from that,
which is just a regulating blood pressure
issue, so I faint a lot. And I can't exert
myself too much, basically I go up two
flights of stairs and I'm like, oh gosh,
there's a heart attack coming.
Ok, wonderful, and then I've got to lie
on the floor for half an hour.
And the vintage fashion is just a layer
over the top, just to make everything look
gorgeous while we're here.
I think you should
make more fashion content.
I'm putting the pitch in now,
and I think a lot of people
in the comments will agree
that you should have like a whole segment
of your channel devoted to
fashion content because we need that
vintage inspo that you bring,
we need your vintage wisdom.