I know exactly what you're saying when you
say like when you're sitting at home writing
you're not like, I'm deaf, I'm deaf
I'm deaf, I say the same for me
like when I'm
sitting around doing my makeup
I'm not like ooh 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 , where 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 like 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 ok. 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 panned out
So, I feel like you should make fashion
videos and yknow when I started
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
and 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 that we 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're 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 have
clicked on your video,
being like "Ooh, I don't know,
i don't know i 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
"Well, you know what,
this is actually really interesting,
Imma keep watching her
other videos as well."
And then, it's just a great 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 have to give you
a vintage makeover.
Oh my gosh,
absolutely!!
Once this whole madness
in this world is done,
and we're 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.
I get to teach
people in a way that entertains them
that truly is the best way to learn.
That's how I always
learned the most growing up
I was never somebody
who could sit in class
and hear you talk to me about something.
I need to be the one
that was getting up and doing it
I was a very kinesthetic learner
I need to be actually doing the thing
and immersed in it
to be able to understand it
and being able to
hopefully be entertaining to people
um, while they- they learn
and open their minds
to new ways of thinking
is so rewarding
so I completely agree with you
And I always say
we talk a lot in the disability community
about the fact that
y'know that we're quite low
on the totem pole of causes
and of things that people care about
and talk about or know about.
You know, you often see those like
"Diversity panels"
and it's like everything is shown
... except disability.
And we're like "Hey now,
"Hi"
"Where are we at the table"
I think so many different
brands and companies
think that they can kind of get away
doing the absolute least
when it comes to disability representation
Whether that be in adverts
or actually making things accessible.
So many of them think
"Oh, a person in a wheelchair
and we're done.
That's it we've represented every
disabled person,
we've covered everyone's needs, excellent.
Of course our brand is friendly to the
disabled community, we have a ramp!"
And you're like, "Uh-huh, I see.
And how are you helping every other
disabled person?"
Mhm, mhm.
Like, people who use wheelchairs
actually make up quite a small part
of the disability population as a whole.
And, people just cannot get this through
their heads and, of course, having
the disability symbol be a wheelchair,
obviously a very visual way to get that
across very neatly, but it does tend
to make people forget everyone else.
Yes and I- I don't know if this has been
happening in England but over the
pas number of years I've been seeing
in North America one change is
certain places are adding other stickers
that represent other disabilities.
Which is nice because for example on
public transit, like a bus, I need to
sit down, it's not a question I need to
be able to sit. Because balance is a
combination, as I'm sure you know as
deaf woman, of ears and eyes.
And so my balance, not being able to see
is quite off. And so standing on a moving
vehicle, even if I'm holding a pole, is
just not really a thing for me. So I need
sit. And so when I get on a bus with my
guide dog, people used to not register
that I was somebody who they needed to
get out of the disability seating for.
Um, so they would just continue to sit
there. But now they've added these
stickers where it's like a man with a cane
a person in a wheelchair and there's
somebody with a walker and I'm like
Thank you for showing multiple visuals
of what somebody who might need to sit in
disability seating could present as.
Yeah, I've definitely seen in the last few
years that kind of not all disabilities
are visible stickers on a lot more things
in public places. And it's so good to see
because I remember when I very first-
so I kind of grew up with a disability
but it wasn't, well I'm not going to say
noticed, but it wasn't diagnosed until
I was 17. And then when I was 17 and I
suddenly had this big health crisis and
very much did need to use, you know,
disabled toilets and I need to have
access to things. I had a lot of issues
with this. Because people were constantly
trying to stop me from using things
saying "Oh that's not for you that's for
disabled people." And I'm like I mean
I am, I don't know what I can do to-
to make this more obvious to people, that
I'm really struggling and things would
help me like this. So it's, it is really
lovely to see now. I worry less about
using disabled toilets in public
when they have a "Not all disabilities
are visible" sticker on them. Because the
dirty jokes I've received coming out of a
disabled toilet on two feet is like, ugh.
Well I think part of the problem with
that too is how many able-bodied people
just do use the toilet for people with a
disability?
Um, so many, so many able bodied people
do use different facilities that are
accessible and designed for people who
actually need them due to a disability.
And, so now I think when people see
somebody presenting as able-bodied, they
just kind of assume they're able-bodied
because of how many able-bodied people do
take advantage of having a little extra
wiggle room in the stall for when they're
pooping and they don't want anyone to hear
it and I'm like that's not what, that's
not what that was for. It's not for all
you extra shopping bags, ma'am.
It's for people who require either the bar
for support, who require the extra room
for a support worker, for a service
animal, for a mobility device. Like
there's many reasons that that exists.