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  • Hi, lovelies! Today I'd like to thank Squarespace

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  • It will include my personal blog, recipes, fashion,

  • rants on life - but with a well-deserved make-over.

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  • Hi, lovelies!

  • If you remember back to Vlogmas,

  • I met an absolutely lovely lady called Megan

  • who is part of Wegan, which, er...

  • Seriously, it's like dyslexia hits me with a stick every time I try and...

  • Wegan

  • It's basically Megan and her lovely wife, Whitney, and together they are Wegan.

  • And they are a couple that I have been following since...

  • way back when.

  • Way back when.

  • And I got the chance to meet her and I was so excited, and I gave her a make-over,

  • and you saw the results of that and it was amazing and I was so pleased.

  • And the video that we were gonna put out,

  • where I put retro vintage make-up on her and we...

  • talked about all different kinds of--growing up with a disability

  • and being gay and what that was like,

  • um...

  • yeah, it got lost.

  • It's lost, it's--well, not lost.

  • "Lost..."

  • would imply that I had somehow put it somewhere and misplaced it.

  • That's not what happened. Oh, no!

  • When the computer broke, and then the hard-drive broke,

  • um...I just lost all my files.

  • Very, very sweetly,

  • Megan offered me the second part of her footage.

  • So that is what I am going to be showing you today.

  • It was about being disabled and a lesbian

  • and the kind of intersectionality of that

  • cross-section.

  • So sad that the original video has gone, because--because it was so good!

  • And Megan looked just absolutely beautiful.

  • As I'm sure you'll agree.

  • And I don't even have the really good photos that we took

  • after we'd been filming, so...

  • You can watch the first part of this conversation by clicking on the link above

  • in the card, or down below, which will be in the description

  • and that will take you over to Megan's channel,

  • where you can watch that and then come back and watch this.

  • So, here is the second part of the conversation.

  • We asked questions on Twitter and said, "What would you like us to answer about being gay and disabled?"

  • J: And what did people say? M: Let me go find them.

  • M: I didn't, because I hid it, because I'm nice.

  • I think I thought, once I got to know the person, if I liked them, that I'd probably "warn" them before we met up

  • The reality was [?[ having to warn them, like--I don't want them to find out when they've met me.

  • So I'd wait to see if I liked them and then I'd be like, "By the way..."

  • And then at that point, when I told Whitney, she was like, "I realised, I already knew." I was like, "Oh."

  • "Oh, OK."

  • Um, yeah... I don't think I went on a lot of dates people who I'd met in person, I guess.

  • Some I did, but it might have been like drunk in a night club, so then I'd worry that did they realise?

  • J: That they'd been so drunk, they just assumed--they thought it was more because they were drunk

  • M: Yeah. How about you, Jessica?

  • J: I think in my first wave of dating,

  • before I met my first--the first person I date, before I met her and went on lots of dates,

  • I think I did. I did, I put it in all of my dating profiles, like

  • out, you know, open - tell everyone.

  • And not that many people responded to me.

  • No one wanted to go on dates with me

  • and sometimes, if they did, they were weird.

  • J: They'd get too into it. M: Aw, no. That's strange.

  • J: "OK"

  • J: Some people really like the idea of dating a deaf person.

  • M: OK.

  • J: But they were very much like--there's that infantilization, I think, of disabled people.

  • M: I'm learning so much. J: And then the second wave of dating,

  • J: I didn't put it on my profile.

  • J: Like, I didn't tell Claudia, um...

  • Yeah. I think Claudia first--on our very first date,

  • when we first met, we very much just told each other everything about everything, ever

  • M: That's cool. J: and spilled our souls.

  • J: And got asked to leave the pub, because they were like, "We are closing, get out."

  • "Sorry."

  • J: We've already been here for five hours. M: Aww.

  • J: And then we walked to my house and stood on my front step and talked for another forty-five minutes

  • M: Did you not invite her in?

  • J: Well, no, I was saying...! M: You were working up to it, or...?

  • J: I was waiting for a kiss.

  • J: You know? Damn it.

  • M: Oh, waiting for a kiss?! Yeah. J: Kiss on the doorstep! She walked me home.

  • M: And she was like, "Can I come in?"

  • J: But it was kind of awkward, like, it's our first date

  • J: So, we don't wanna go... And we really like each other

  • so it was very much like, 'we don't wanna go too far'

  • J: But... M: Me and Whitney didn't--yeah, we're good.

  • J: You guys had known each other for quite a while M: Yes.

  • J: when you actually first met. M: We had, but I didn't want to on my first date.

  • M: Bad. That's bad. J: But it's not a first date if you've been talking for years!

  • M: True. It's true. J: Does not count.

  • J: And then our third date, she came to pick me up from work.

  • And I--it was like the launch of our TV station, it was this big thing,

  • and I'd got really tired the night before because I'd been working really hard up to the launch,

  • and I fell asleep really heavily on my leg, so I didn't turn over in the night, as I should have done,

  • and I paralysed my leg

  • And, so, I was on crutches

  • and she turned up, and she was taking me away for the weekend,

  • and I was like

  • "Hi." And she didn't say anything!

  • M: She didn't notice your crutches? J: She didn't even notice!

  • M: Love. So cute. J: And then I was like--I kind of said an hour later, like,

  • "Um...you haven't said anything, but I'm on crutches."

  • She was like, "Yeah, but you told me on our first date that sometimes that happens."

  • M: Ahh, I see, I see.

  • J: Yeah, but you could've... You're not going to make a big deal out of it? No?

  • J: Amazing, let's get married

  • M: Yes

  • M: Over the years, since I've been out about having handy,

  • I have had people message me saying they're gay and they're disabled

  • and they didn't think they would find someone, so they--

  • they love seeing how much Whitney loves me; it's really cute.

  • J: Yeah. I think the problem is just that it's a small dating pool, being gay anyway.

  • M: And then feminine.

  • J: Yeah, you've gotta...

  • J: So it's like you're a fem lesbian, so you've got all the kind of...

  • women

  • that like women.

  • So, like, OK, good, here's this pool. But then you're like, "OK, the one's that I fancy..."

  • M: Yeah.

  • "...are like this much, and then the ones that fancy me out of that group is like

  • this much."

  • And then you've gotta find the ones that you can actually live with.

  • And then you've gotta find the ones that are OK with your disability, and then you're like

  • there's this much, and then you've gotta find the ones out of that tiny pile

  • that you're OK with whatever baggage THEY bring.

  • M: Yeah. It's true. J: And that's like...three people.

  • J: Generally, it's just life, so, you know, I don't know, this is just the way I live my life, so

  • it doesn't really bother me.

  • I get mostly frustrated not about most of my physical stuff, because I'm like pain: meh.

  • I can deal with that. Stuff stops workings? Meh. I can deal with that.

  • Can't hear? Meh. Can deal with that.

  • Can't see? Meh. Can deal with that.

  • But stuff that really bothers me is my fatigue and my memory problems.

  • I had a lung puncture that went wrong and it killed parts of my brain, because I lost a lot of spinal fluid,

  • so I have a lot of problems making memories, especially short-term memories.

  • So I can remember in precise detail

  • the clothes that I wore when I was four.

  • M: I can't. J: I can remember exactly things from my childhood

  • but I don't know where my hair brush is.

  • Like, I'll put something down

  • and then I'm like, "Damn it."

  • And if I don't make the memory, then there's no way I can ever recover it.

  • So Claudia can say something to me in the morning

  • like, "Oh, could you...?" and she'll come back in the evening like, "Did you...?" and I'm like,

  • "Did you ask me?"

  • J: So I have lists around the house of where things are. M: OK

  • J: and what I need to do.

  • M: I was going to say: how do you remember things, then, you do that?

  • I can only do it if it's right there. "Ahh, that! I'm supposed to do." But then if I don't look at the piece of paper.

  • Open my make-up drawer. "Don't forget to pay the gas bill."

  • "Ohh." And, yeah, I'm really sorry to all of my friends who I don't text back

  • because I...if the notification is gone, it's gone.

  • J: I don't remember where I saw it. M: I just have a bad memory for no reason, so...

  • You know, I'm like [mumbles incoherent attempts at trying to remember something]

  • J: You can borrow an excuse if you need one. M: Yeah, I can borrow one.

  • I think, for me, I just find it frustrating when I just--

  • most of the time I don't think about it, and then when I can't do something, like I wanna open a jar

  • if Whitney's not in the--like for now, Whitney's not in the house, so

  • I couldn't open something the other day and I was like, "Well, that's that then. I just can't open it."

  • J: Do you not have--do you not have an occupational therapist?

  • M: I got assessed once.

  • J: The story of everyone with a life-long disability. "I got assessed once."

  • M: Assessed once, and...don't even know what they recommended. I think

  • I have tried a few things in my life, I just don't like them. I just tend to not like whatever they give me.

  • M: I'm like no. J: But there is quite a good one for opening jars.

  • M: I should probably have it. J: It sits on top of the jar and then it basically

  • clamps on like a spider

  • and then sucks the lid and then twists the lid around.

  • M: Cool! J: Someone put a link in the comments

  • J: if you know what I'm talking about. M: Yeah, I should get that.

  • J: But it genuinely is quite good. M: I should probably get a lot of things. It's really bad.

  • M: I used to have an electric can opener and that's not even for anything, but

  • mum was like, "Here you go, have that."

  • I think my parents brought me up to not be disabled, if that makes sense,

  • and I didn't really ever have many adaptions.

  • The only thing mum made was, like--it had like a fork

  • they put a little bit of--a mold on or something so I could try and scoop with my left

  • hand, like, using a knife, because I have to use--I use...

  • J: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Obviously you have to, like, cut...

  • M: Yeah. So I actually don't use--I gave up on that.

  • I use a fork. 'Cause I'm very American, I could [?]

  • 'Cause they don't use fork--knives

  • That was the other thing about first dates, as well: if I needed anything to be cut

  • to eat, I'd be like...

  • J: Did people ask if you needed them to cut up your food?

  • Yeah. I'd try and order something, I guess, that I wouldn't need that, but I love pizza!

  • Sometimes it comes cut, doesn't it?

  • Sometimes it doesn't.

  • And, yeah,, so it would be really awkward.

  • But then if people would offer to cut my food, I'd wanna punch them in the face.

  • M: "Oh!" J: What about when they DON'T offer?

  • M: And then I'm like, "Can't eat my food."

  • I was always in an awkward situation of, like...

  • Someone like, "Oh, you can't carry that."

  • M: "Why can't I carry that? Yes, I can!" J: You're like, "I think you'll find that I can."

  • M: And then I can't. So I'm like, "You were right, but..." J: "Yeah, I can't, but you know...don't tell me [I can't]."

  • M: Yeah, I'm a bit like that. Don't tell me--yeah. I'll ask for help.

  • J: Yeah, I think that's quite a common...

  • it's quite a common thing, where you're like, "Don't you dare help me!"

  • "But also...it's so rude that you're not asking."

  • M: I don't know, I guess a lot of my content's about being a lesbian, and not really about being gay

  • and then when I announced it, I was like, "Oh, God, what's everyone gonna say?"

  • And then I found out a lot of people who followed us had a disability, which surprised me.

  • M: I was like, "Ooo." J: Did you know one third of LGBT people have a disability?"

  • M: No.

  • M: Is there anything out there, though - I could be saying that [?] - for gays and disabled people?

  • J: My channel.

  • M: That's what's out there, everyone. This network you've been missing is Jessica's channel. Yes! It's true, though.

  • It is good. I mean, oh, my God, if I was growing up and found your channel, I would've been like...

  • J: Yeah, I started my channel because I'm like damn it, when I was that girl and I was a teenager,

  • lying in bed all on my own, and all of my friends had just kind of gone off to live their lives,

  • I needed that. I needed someone that I could look at and be like, "Yes!"

  • "She is gay and she is disabled and she is just living her life."

  • Because so much of the rhetoric and media around being disabled is so sad

  • "What an invalid."

  • "Never gonna have fun."

  • It's like no, actually, thanks. That's not my life.

  • M: This is my new love of my life, as well. J: Yes, who also is rather into...red lipstick.

  • M: That now looks pink. J: Yeah! Yeah, you decided that you were gonna get your lips done.

  • M: She wanted to join the girls.

  • What's it like to have two mummies? Is it the best?

  • J: Yes.

  • M: That's another thing we've not talked about: having kids one day.

  • J: Oh, my God! Yes! Oh.

  • J: Being gay AND disabled AND having children. M: Yes!

  • J: Woah, minefield. Maybe that's its own video. M: Woooah. Yeah, it's like...poof!

  • J: Well, we want to be mummies.

  • J: We want to be mummies quite soon. M: Yeah, how soon?

  • J: Start trying at the end of this year.

  • M: Yes! J: That's really soon.

  • M: That's so exciting!

  • M: Do you know what? I think we're not far behind you, which is exciting as well.

  • M: Yeah, so we can share tips. J: We can be gay and disabled mummy vloggers.

  • M: Absolutely.

  • M: Yes. J: Yeah, looking after a baby, I imagine is going to be incredibly hard.

  • J: But...

  • I feel like my body is already a baby.

  • I felt like going to university I'm like, "I'm a person,"

  • but also I already have a baby to look after, which is my body.

  • M: Oh, OK. Interesting. J: So I have to make sure that it's fed, watered,

  • J: has enough sleep, takes its pills on time.

  • J: I don't think the baby will have pills.

  • M: Some, I'm sure. J: But, you get what I'm saying.

  • J: So you have this extra thing to look after; it's just something else

  • M: You'll be more mentally prepared for it, maybe, of like reminding you [?].

  • J: We're gonna train your babies to open jars. M: Yeah.

  • M: And hopefully they'll be taller than me, which is just going to be helpful in life. Reaching things.

  • You know, you've got a good height, so that's good.

  • M: Wow.

  • J: I would say the first thing [is] accessible and inclusive spaces.

  • Because LGBTQ spaces, I find, are the least accessible.

  • J: In a literal 'there are stairs' type of way. M: Yeah. Yeah.

  • J: Which I get, because, obviously, it's not always been OK to be open

  • about being gay, so gay clubs started in like back alleys and...upstairs in a pub.

  • J: But nowadays, guys... M: Come on, now.

  • J: You can move down to street level.

  • You can put in a ramp. You have no excuse now.

  • M: I agree with that, as well.

  • M: I think it's a bit like how we're out online about being gay and feminine,

  • that it helps visibility and it's just the same as disability, isn't it?

  • So I think that more people feel comfortable enough to be online about themselves and that really helps.

  • 'Cause there is actually a lot of people out there, isn't there?

  • Haven't found any others that are gay and disabled, but I've found a lot of feminine lesbians

  • and a lot of gay people and I'm like, "Ooo, nice."

  • But I think combining would be really cool.

  • M: To see more of that.

  • J: Yeah, I think we just need to make sure that if we have a panel of gay people -

  • it's an LGBTQ+ panel discussing whatever topic,

  • there's no harm in making sure that, you know, you've got someone on there

  • who maybe can say what it's like to be disabled as well

  • since one third of the community are.

  • J: We'll make a part two! M: Yeah! We'll come back again.

  • With all the questions we did answer but didn't get on camera.

  • M: Aww. Well, thank you for joining me today.

  • J: Yeah, it's been absolutely--joining you? In my house.

  • J: So happy to be here. M: Thank you for having me in your house, as well.

  • J: You've very welcome. It's been so lovely to meet you. M: Just...invited myself.

  • Thank you, thank you, thank you to Megan who is absolutely amazing

  • for sending over that footage.

  • And I'm so, so grateful. Oh, my God.

  • And I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry about what happened

  • with the stuff that we filmed.

  • And thank you, thank you, thank you again to Megan, for driving all the way to my house

  • and letting me put make-up on her.

  • I don't--it didn't even go anywhere.

  • But hopefully she will be willing to come down again and I will do it all over again for her.

  • Make her look fabulous.

  • Not that she doesn't already.

  • She's a beautiful lady.

  • Remember to go off to Wegan's channel and watch the first part of this conversation if you haven't already

  • and to subscribe to them, because they are absolutely lovely.

  • And I--I fangirled. I fangirled hard.

  • And also, if you are new here, then hello!

  • Come subscribe for more disabled and gay stuff.

  • And puppies. Who doesn't love that?

  • I really hope that you enjoyed this video.

  • If you did, give it a thumbs up, and I will see you next time.

  • Today, I am also designing my new website.

  • Squarespace thankfully has beautiful templates, and is an all-in-one platform,

  • which is excellent because I don't know anything

  • about installing, patching, or upgrading

  • and now I don't have to!

  • Most importantly for me,

  • Squarespace provides customer support via chat and email,

  • so, yay, it is deaf-friendly.

  • If you want to try it for yourself, you can start your free trial today at squarespace.com

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Hi, lovelies! Today I'd like to thank Squarespace

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