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

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    I know exactly what you're saying when you
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    say when you're sitting at home writing
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    and you're not like, I'm deaf, I'm deaf
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    I say the same for me When I'm
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    sitting down doing my makeup
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    I'm not like uh I'm blind, I'm blind
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    Like, I'm not thinking about my
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    blindness, I'm just living my life
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    because this is our normal (Music)
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    Hello everybody, we are back
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    with my series , when I sit down
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    with another person
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    from the disability community
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    and we disscuss all things
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    life and disability related
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    and this one is probably the
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    most requested that I've seen.
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    So we finally have Jessica
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    and I'm gonna let you say your
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    last name
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    (Laughs) Jessica Kellgren-Fozard
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    It's ok, I know, it's a difficult surname
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    we literally went over this before
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    we started filming
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    We've just been like talking on
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    Google Meet
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    And I was like, practicing the name
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    and I was like no, you know what,
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    I got here, I was too deep,
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    I was like, I'm jumping
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    out of the pool.
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    She'll take over. So thank you-
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    It's complex. The Kellgren bit is Swedish,
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    the Fozard is my wife's surname,
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    it's from Normandy, smush it together,
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    it's complicated for everyone.
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    Or Jessica Out Of The Closet,
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    which I think is a brilliant name
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    because not only are you one of
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    the most fabulous fashionistas
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    that I follow on social media,
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    but you are also in fact out of
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    the closet, and so I think it's just
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    such a fun username.
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    (Laughs) Yeah,
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    out of the closet in many ways.
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    Out of the gay closet, out of the
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    disability closet, just living life open.
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    That's the way to live life.
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    Being your best, most authentic,
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    confident queen self. And that is
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    exactly what you do.
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    I watch your videos and I
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    legitimately laugh out loud.
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    Like you're one of, not only the most
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    fashionable people I follow but one of
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    the funniest people I follow,
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    and I think that you, just by simply
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    being you, break so many disability
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    stereotypes and misconceptions,
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    and I think it's so fabulous for just-
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    so thank you for just exisiting
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    on the internet.
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    (Laughs) I mean, I could say
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    the same thing about you, Molly.
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    I woke up this morning and I was like,
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    OK, Molly, you have to try to look, like,
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    a little bit half fabulous
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    because you're going to be sitting next to
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    Jessica in a video and it's going
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    to be embarrassing.
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    Oh no, I think you are incredibly stylish,
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    I must say. I always enjoy
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    your Instagram as well.
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    Thank you, I appreciate it.
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    So, I know a ton of my audience
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    knows and loves your content already
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    but for those who don't, would you like to
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    kind of give the brief introduction of who
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    Jessica is in a nutshell.
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    My goodness, okay, the elevator pitch
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    of me, then, I guess.
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    So, I'm Jessica, I'm a YouTuber,
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    content creator. I make content that is
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    generally fun, informative, educational,
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    amusing, around things that are to do with
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    disability, chronic illness, and LGBTQ+
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    issues. So I have two genetic conditions,
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    hereditary neuropathy with pressure
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    palsies, which means that there are gaps
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    in the myelin sheaths around your nerves.
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    For me that means that I can paralyze
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    parts of myself, that my nerves are more
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    easily damaged, which does things like
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    affect my hearing and I have loss of
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    vision in one eye because of it, and it
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    can do things like my hands don't have
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    any feeling because I paralyzed both of
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    my arms for a year and a half when I was
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    a teenager. And they came back to a
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    certain degree, but they can't now feel
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    anything, so it's like wearing gloves
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    all of the time. And I don't get hot and
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    cold, any of those kinds of things,
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    or wet. Which is really annoying when
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    you're trying to hang up the washing,
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    'cause you're like, is this wet?
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    Is this dry? Absolutely no idea.
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    And I end up having to like, press my face
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    to all of my laundry to see whether it's
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    dry or not. Very strange thing.
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    And then you just get a random cheek stain
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    or random foundation stain on the side
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    of your white shirt.
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    I mean, I should add, I only do this when
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    I'm not wearing makeup. (Laughs)
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    Pro tip.
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    And then I also have Ehlers Danlos
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    Syndrome, which is about my connective
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    tissue, and means that not only am I
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    hyper mobile, and very flexible and bendy,
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    which most people think is like, whoa,
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    what a great party trick, and it is,
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    it's a pretty good party trick that I
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    perhaps overused when I was a child.
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    I dislocated various things just to prove
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    to people that I could. Don't do that.
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    That's a terrible idea. Don't do that.
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    But it also affects connective tissue in
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    things like my internal organs,
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    so I have some issues with my heart, and
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    I have postural orthostatic tachycardia
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    syndrome, which comes from that,
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    which is just a regulating blood pressure
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    issue, so I faint a lot. And I can't exert
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    myself too much, basically I go up two
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    flights of stairs and I'm like, oh gosh,
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    there's a heart attack coming.
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    Ok, wonderful, and then I've got to lie
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    on the floor for half an hour.
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    And the vintage fashion is just a layer
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    over the top, just to make everything look
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    gorgeous while we're here.
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    I think you should
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    make more fashion content.
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    I'm putting the pitch in now,
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    and I think a lot of people
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    in the comments will agree
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    that you should have like a whole segment
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    of your channel devoted to
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    fashion content because we need that
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    vintage inspo that you bring,
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    we need your vintage wisdom.
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    I was just, like, as we were talking
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    before we started filming, I was
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    peppering her with questions
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    about the vintage fashion scene
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    because I am fascinated by it
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    and whenever I've tried to do it,
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    it has (pause) not necessarily [I DONT UNDERTSAND THIS WORD]
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    So, I feel like you should make fashion videos and
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    you know what, when I started out doing fashion content
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    it was kind of like a total mistake
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    I wanted to make one video about, like,
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    accessibility in online shopping
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    and that was supposed to be it.
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    But people requested me keep doing it
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    and I was like
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    "Well, If you want me to feed my addiction
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    and talk about something I love,
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    I am happy to do so"
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    There is people in the disability activism community
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    who have been upset by that.
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    Like, they want me to kind of dedicate
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    my channel to disability.
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    And I can understand that, but
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    to me, I am a human
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    and disabilities are a very real,
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    important topic to me
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    and it affects my life daily,
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    but so does fashion
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    and the confidence that fashion gives me!
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    So does makeup,
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    so does my guide dog,
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    so does dating,
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    so do all these other aspects
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    so I think it's very important
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    for us, as a disability community,
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    to show society the human side
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    of our day-to-day life
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    and the very normal, average
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    human things that we love
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    and partake in.
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    Of course, of course
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    I always link this back to
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    children's books
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    because I think it's the easiest way
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    to understand people learning new concepts
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    So, there are so many children's books
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    that are about issues.
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    It's about "some people move in a wheelchair"
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    or "some people have 2 mums"
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    and kids don't love them,
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    they don't want to read those books,
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    because they are very much
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    focused on "this one object that you need
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    to learn". It's not fun!
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    Whereas, when they are reading like a fun, adventure
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    book, where OH the main character just
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    happens to have a disability
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    or just happens to have a different
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    family setup to the nuclear family,
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    then it's more engaging
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    and they are more willing to learn things
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    And I know the great things about
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    having disabled content creators
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    who are creating content that
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    isn't just disability focused
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    is that you are also bringing in people
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    who wouldn't have necessarily clicked on your video,
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    being like "OOH, I don;t know, I don't wanna
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    watch something about a blind person,
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    cause I've never really met a blind person
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    and that could be awkward."
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    But if it's a video where you are doing something else
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    and they click in,
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    they are like
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    "WHAT, you know what,
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    this is actually really interesting,
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    Imma keep watching her
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    other videos as well."
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    And then, it's just a [ADJECTIVE] way
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    to lead people in, I think
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    And they start to really be
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    more involved in the issues,
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    it's not something that's far away
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    Now, it's "oh, my favourite
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    content creator Molly
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    also happens to have
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    a disability and
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    also happens to talk about that
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    And now I've learnt things about it"
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    So I always think that's the best way,
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    but, actually, Molly,
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    two birds, one stone,
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    to do with this fashion thing,
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    I think the next time you come
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    to England, I'm gonna give you
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    a vintage makeover.
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    OH MY GOSH,
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    absolutely!!
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    Once this whole madness
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    in this world is done,
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    and we are all vaccinated,
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    I'm coming out to England,
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    so I can finally see my brother
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    for the first time
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    in over a year.
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    AND i can see you
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    and we are doing the vintage makeover
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    I'm absolutely holding you to that.
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    But I could not agree more with
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    what you've just said.
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    My favourite thing about what
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    I do is that I get to
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    make learning fun for people.
Title:
Being Deaf & Being Blind - Chatting Disability Stuff w/ Jessica Kellgren-Fozard!
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
Captions Requested
Duration:
39:13

English subtitles

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