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.