This is my friend Annika and she is from the YouTube channel

Annika: Annika Victoria

Martina: she likes to do

Annika: DIY fashion and sewing

Martina: and her favorite color is

Annika: I don't have a favourite colour. I'm sure you-

Martina: And her favourite fruit is...? And if you were a K-pop main, you'd be...?

Annika: Uuh

Annika is visiting from Australia and we decided like "hey, we both use mobility aids.

Is it possible to show people how we're able to actually be fashionable while wearing these things?"

I think that we all kind of feel down on ourselves

but when you meet somebody else who has a struggle with a mobility aid, you start to realize like

"Oh, actually there are ways to overcome this. There are ways to be fashionable and to feel youthful."

Annika: and that you're not alone

[Inspiration music]

We were discussing how we created these different hashtags

to try to help other people around the world like come together and realize they're not alone

So, you guys might already be using or looking at "build a ladder" hashtag, but Annika has one that I really like it's called

"babe with the mobility aid"

The illness I have is called Takayasu's arteritis and it's an autoimmune

illness that affects the arteries that branch away from my heart so they're pretty important arteries.

So, like the ones that are affected in my body go to my brain and to my arm.

I was diagnosed with that eight years ago.

I started using a mobility aid three years ago because I was just exhausted. I couldn't get through my day.

I was trying to go to uni and work in a science lab. Every time I got to uni

I was just wiped out and I like couldn't focus on my classes. So what I did was I got myself a mobility aid.

I found it really hard when I was shopping for that mobility aid

like I really had a lot of people kind of looking at me like "You don't need that" cuz I think the real idea of

someone who uses a mobility aid is older people, right? Like all the brochures and everything that I was looking at all had

elderly people in- sitting in wheelchairs being like "ahh, enjoying my retirement" because of that

I was feeling really down about being a young person who uses a mobility aid.

It's weird when you use a mobility aid you feel at once invisible

like you can't be stylish and fashionable. On the other side,

you also feel like everyone's staring at you like being like "Why is she using that thing? What's wrong with her?" Martina: Yeah, it's both at the same time.

Annika: Yeah, so I started the hashtag babe with a mobility aid because I was just feeling so self-conscious

but I thought there must be other people out there who

would- who are feeling the same thing that I'm feeling and it's such a good thing for me when I'm feeling

really anxious about going out using my wheelchair if I think people are gonna stare at me or like if I'm meeting someone new and

and they're only gonna see my wheelchair

I am able to go online, go on Instagram, look at that hashtag and see just other people out there

just living their lives doing what they need to do

to feel their best.

If you have a community of people to talk to you also see the way that they're incorporating it into their outfits

Annika: Yes. Martina: So if you see a person on their wheelchair and you see them posing and you go "Wait,

they look so cute right now" then suddenly the confidence of that person not giving a damn you realize "Oh,

It's just a normal person who just happens to be sitting in a chair."

[Chill music]

When I use my cane and I have to be at an event and I feel really good about myself

I use it like a pimp stick, you know what I mean?

Like from that era of -- I'm not saying that I am a pimp in any way --

I have a different kind of swagger and then people don't see the cane. They see me being fashionable and feeling confident

It's when we kind of shrivel up and feel like we're matching our devices like I'm using a cane therefore I'm old

I'm ugly and like you kind of like shrivel up.

Annika: I think

"broken" is a term that I'll often use for myself when I'm feeling really low and that's such a bad term that I feel broken

therefore I have to use a mobility aid. No, a mobility aid is empowering, it empowers me to go out into the world.

It's the opposite of being broken. Martina: Do you judge somebody who gets in the car to go to work

They're like "I'm gonna take the car to work": Broken! Why don't you bike it, loser?! Annika: Why don't you walk three hours? Martina: You got legs?!

Martina: We're just not thinking of it the right way. You know, inline skates make you move faster, skateboards make you look cooler. Let's all admit that.

[Music]

Let's talk canes and heels:

This is something that I actually

struggled a lot with. I felt like if I'm wearing heels with an outfit I couldn't possibly have a cane because it would kind of

be like contradictory like "Oh, you have used a cane, but you can wear heels.

You're obviously healthy enough to wear heels." If I'm gonna go out for like three hours in these heels I might become exhausted.

I don't want to not go out

so instead I bring with me my little fold up cane. You want to get a cane that has adjustable heights on it here.

I know it's really cool to have a cane that's only one length.

The problem is that if you're wearing heels

you're gonna have to adjust it for different heights to make sure you're leaning into it properly. When I'm out of my heels

I bring it down a couple notches.

Wedge heels, for me, are the way to go because they have lots of surface area so that I can walk around and feel stable.

If I'm feeling not too stable

I can just pop it out and use it as kind of like a third leg, if you will, and you know, that's okay

It's okay to be like "I'm in heels,

I'm in a dress, but I also need a little bit of support." You don't need to lean into it,

you don't need to hobble and like really support yourself. It's just kind of like a tripod. You feel like a lot more stable.

So, I love using this fold up cane and plus it feels like a magic trick.

[Cane clicks open]

I mean, come on, other than that, enjoy your outfits and your heels because it's possible, y'all.

[Upbeat music]

Simon: Oh, shit is that a sling? Is this a reveal for RuPaul? Oh, titty almost fell out. That's quite the reveal

[Music]

Because you are capable of walking

what do you do when people see you get up out of your chair?

Because sometimes I know you're using your chair to conserve energy, but then you might get up to reach for something.

Annika: Yeah, so- Martina: You know put it in a basket or something. What are the reactions?

Annika: It's really bad like because I've had such negative reactions in the past where people like really like stare at me, frown at me

People will come off and ask what's wrong with me. I've heard people like whispering about me, like, movies and TVs

it's always- it' always portrayed that way like someone uses a wheelchair because

they are paralyzed or someone uses a wheelchair because they're faking their disability

and when they stand up everyone goes "Gasp,

they were faking it all along!" and because of that there's such a stigma from standing up

I really feel the pressure from people watching me to act

disabled, whatever that means. Martina: As we all start talking more about this and as this conversation happens online

this is the cool thing about the internet now people around the world can see that "Oh,

there are lots of people that use wheelchairs for things that I can't see and I'm not gonna get upset at someone for getting out

of their car, taking out their wheel chair."

Because 99.9999% of the chances are that they need that

Martina: Yes.

like maybe there is like a

0.0001 percent of people that might, I don't know, for some reason. Number one, wheelchairs are so

inconvenient. They just make everything hurt. Martina: They hurt your ass, they hurt your back. Fashion is difficult.

Annika: And you can't go upstairs. Fashion is difficult.

If something's on the second floor without, it's broken, you can't go there. Annika: And number two,

like if you're gonna like have a go at someone 'cuz you think they're faking it the chances are, they

legitimately need to use that mobility aid to get on with their day and you're ruining someone's day who's already having a hard time

because they're using that mobility aid. You're just ruining that person's day for absolutely no reason. Martina: Yeah, Wow. Tell it, Annika.

Martina: I'm keeping all that in. Annika: I'm fired up!

Martina: No, I absolutely, totally agree with you.

Gentle high-five.

I have one arm left right now, okay? Gentle ones.

Annika: Don't ruin it.

[Music]

So one of the problems I have in the summertime is that if I try to wear shorts with my knee brace

I always get these really painful cuts all up on the inside of my thigh because knee braces that have velcro

really fricking suck. They always start out beautiful

but then after like a week of wear it starts to slowly roll up on the edges.

So, I have two fixes for that. One of them is using really cute band-aids.

That's like something awesome about living in Japan as I always have an unlimited access to like dollar store adorableness

I had like Sailor Moon for a while and Hello Kitty. They stick really well on the velcro and the fabric

So let me just show you how I'm gonna do that.

So, for me, it's like this edge right here, and I'm just gonna put it on half fabric

velcro over. I find that because they are bandages they're flexible and they kind of adhere in a gentle way,

I guess, 'cuz it's used to adhering to your skin while other stuff like I tried to use scotch tape or duct tape and stuff --

it was like really, really hard. This is just fabric tape.

So, this is uh easily removable and not super sticky, but the fabric tape also works really well.

I obviously wouldn't put it on this ugly. I'm just trying to show you guys where I'm covering it up.

So, the edges where it curves and this one here and then that way when I stand up when I'm walking and I'm rubbing it

it's just nice and smooth and it doesn't hurt.

So, that's one of the fixes you can do. And option number two,

you can get yourself a really funky pair of leggings. You pop those on and then when you slide your knee brace on it doesn't

hurt when it rubs against your skin.

I really like this because it can kind of take an outfit that's already

normal-looking and then just add something to it. And I have a whole bunch of them.

I got them from like Etsy from different shops.

I find it's a nice way to kind of let your knee brace pop out almost like jewelry.

So, yeah, that's my other quick fix but then --

Tatan! Simon: Mmm. Martina: So, I have another question for you: from the looks of it

It sounds like your channel is like "Annika uses a wheelchair and sometimes doesn't and screams at people."

I wish. So, my channel is all about

sewing clothes to fit your own body

I think a lot of people have a lot issues with store-bought clothes and that they just don't fit. Martina: Especially in Asia. Annika: Probably.

Or they don't want to support

You know fast fashion companies or they just want to be creative and learn how to make something which is really satisfying.

So I show people how to make clothes from their own patterns to fit their own bodies.

Martina: You also do a lot of cool DIY stuff where you'll take like a shirt that

you already have and then you'll turn it into like a really cool rock crop top.

Annika: Yeah, upcycle. Martina: And you made your own bathing suit once. When I saw that come up

I'm like "what do you mean, you can make your own bathing suit?"

Annika: You sure can

Yeah, I just didn't think you could. So It's awesome

and it's got a little bit of peppering the same way that my channel does of us bringing up our

Illness or dealing with mobility aids but it's not the main focus of either of our channels

Yes

but I really think that we wanted to come together to do this video because

even though we have different audiences people that are interested in crafts and arts and doing things themselves and sewing and people who are interested in

travel and food and adventures and our cat, you know.

You're only subscribed for Meemers, admit it!

So, I hope you guys enjoyed this little fashion lookbook.

I am actually to this point still not sure how I'm gonna edit this.

So, either you've already seen us being fashionable or you haven't yet and you're about to

[Sexy music]

Martina, in strange accent: Very nice. Excellent twirl!

[Sexy music]

Simon: Work it, girl!

Martina: Yes, and then pan over to Annika.

Annika: Huaagh! Oh, no, it didn't work! [Boop!]

So, I hope that Annika and I can inspire you guys to

get out there with your mobility aids and to not feel like you're old or feel like you can't be pretty. That is absolutely total

hornswoggle garbage, you hear me? Annika: Use them whenever you need to. You are a babe -- "Yeah." -- with a mobility aid and build that latter.

Oh, oh, I like this. Annika: Hashtag, hashtag, hashtag!

Subscribe, like, thumbs up!

There are- there are channels that try and

get kids to like their videos by telling them that they will die if they don't like -- "What?!" [Dramatic piano music] -- So guys, we're very sick.

We might actually die if you don't like this video. Martina: Wh- They really say things like that?! Annika: Yes.

Alright, well,

I'm in the innocent realm of the YouTube world where I'm watching cooking with dog