Being Deaf & Being Blind - Chatting Disability Stuff w/ Jessica Kellgren-Fozard!

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.