Jaguar Jonze Opens Up On Living With Functional Neurological Disorder
“Sharing this journey has been a way for me to feel less isolated as I come to terms with how it impacts my everyday.”
Jaguar Jonze (Credit: Dusky Jonze)
In addition to being one of the best pop and alternative artists on the scene right now, Jaguar Jonze is undoubtedly one of Australia’s boldest and sharpest voices when it comes for speaking out for marginalised communities – including those living with disabilities.
Over the weekend, the artist born Deena Lynch revealed to fans online that she’d recently been diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), which according to the Neurological Council of WA (NCWA), is “a disorder in which the brain and body do not function harmoniously”.
Noting that FND affects four to 12 of every 100,000 people around the world, NCWA explains: “The problem lies within the central nervous system. The normal pathways the brain uses to send and receive signals to move, feel, speak or think become disrupted leading to a range of motor and/or sensory symptoms.”
In a social media post shared last Saturday (April 13) – coinciding with World Functional Neurological Disorder Day – Jonze noted how much of a struggle it can be for musicians to live with conditions like FND: “It’s been hard to see hope and fight on my body’s terms when our music industry demands so much from independent artists and their bodies,” she said candidly. “It’s difficult to see how I can hold onto my career when I can’t perform under those demands at the moment.”
Jonze went on to explain that she’d refrained from speaking publicly about her FND diagnosis thus far “because the disorder and stigmas it comes with is still so new to me, and the grief that has come with it all has been overwhelming”. But she saw the day of awareness as an opportunity to open a dialogue, writing, “It might be that within my own community, I can learn so much too.”
In the post, Jonze mentioned that she would begin undergoing neurophysio rehab to help with the condition.
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She went on to share another post about her diagnosis earlier today (April 16), quipping that FND “is part of my outfit now”. She explained that since her initial post last Saturday, she’s “been floored at how common FND is within my community”, noting that “sharing this journey has been a way for me to feel less isolated as I come to terms with how it impacts my everyday”.
Adding a shoutout to her “co-pilot” Bianca for “picking me up off the floor to dance through the next challenge”, Jonze mentioned that “it was really tough and having fun with it is my way of still being able to feel like [FND] doesn’t have to take everything away”.
It comes amid a busy time for Jonze, who was recently announced as a finalist in the Rock category for the 2024 Queensland Music Awards (earning the nod for her single Don't Call Me Queen); back in February, she released a powerful new EP titled Victim Impact Statement.
In sharing the EP with the world, she wrote that it served as a gift for herself, “to return my voice and own my body – this is my protest. To remind myself why I came into art and music in the first place. To take back my potential and take up the space I deserve in this world. To rely on myself for justice.”
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