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.
I was just, like, as we were talking
before we started filming, I was
peppering her with questions
about the vintage fashion scene
because I am fascinated by it
and whenever I've tried to do it,
it has (pause) not necessarily [I DONT UNDERTSAND THIS WORD]
So, I feel like you should make fashion videos and
you know what, when I started out doing fashion content
it was kind of like a total mistake
I wanted to make one video about, like,
accessibility in online shopping
and that was supposed to be it.
But people requested me keep doing it
and I was like
"Well, If you want me to feed my addiction
and talk about something I love,
I am happy to do so"
There is people in the disability activism community
who have been upset by that.
Like, they want me to kind of dedicate
my channel to disability.
And I can understand that, but
to me, I am a human
and disabilities are a very real,
important topic to me
and it affects my life daily,
but so does fashion
and the confidence that fashion gives me!
So does makeup,
so does my guide dog,
so does dating,
so do all these other aspects
so I think it's very important
for us, as a disability community,
to show society the human side
of our day-to-day life
and the very normal, average
human things that we love
and partake in.
Of course, of course
I always link this back to
children's books
because I think it's the easiest way
to understand people learning new concepts
So, there are so many children's books
that are about issues.
It's about "some people move in a wheelchair"
or "some people have 2 mums"
and kids don't love them,
they don't want to read those books,
because they are very much
focused on "this one object that you need
to learn". It's not fun!
Whereas, when they are reading like a fun, adventure
book, where OH the main character just
happens to have a disability
or just happens to have a different
family setup to the nuclear family,
then it's more engaging
and they are more willing to learn things
And I know the great things about
having disabled content creators
who are creating content that
isn't just disability focused
is that you are also bringing in people
who wouldn't have necessarily clicked on your video,
being like "OOH, I don;t know, I don't wanna
watch something about a blind person,
cause I've never really met a blind person
and that could be awkward."
But if it's a video where you are doing something else
and they click in,
they are like
"WHAT, you know what,
this is actually really interesting,
Imma keep watching her
other videos as well."
And then, it's just a [ADJECTIVE] way
to lead people in, I think
And they start to really be
more involved in the issues,
it's not something that's far away
Now, it's "oh, my favourite
content creator Molly
also happens to have
a disability and
also happens to talk about that
And now I've learnt things about it"
So I always think that's the best way,
but, actually, Molly,
two birds, one stone,
to do with this fashion thing,
I think the next time you come
to England, I'm gonna give you
a vintage makeover.
OH MY GOSH,
absolutely!!
Once this whole madness
in this world is done,
and we are all vaccinated,
I'm coming out to England,
so I can finally see my brother
for the first time
in over a year.
AND i can see you
and we are doing the vintage makeover
I'm absolutely holding you to that.
But I could not agree more with
what you've just said.
My favourite thing about what
I do is that I get to
make learning fun for people.