Pole position must be a hard spot to take if you’ve only got one limb.
Australian dancer Deborah Roach took out the disabled category of the International Pole Championship in Hong Kong over the weekend, flinging herself artfully around a pole with just one arm.
Most people have enough trouble even with two.
“Yeah look, I actually got into an underground Goth scene in my teenage years because I didn’t fit into normal society. And I loved dancing the night away on the dance floor, and that led to stage dancing in clubs,” said Roach.
Roach is, by all accounts, quite a remarkable achiever. She quit her job in IT when she realised she had the goods (she beat able-bodied contestants in a competition in 2009), became a personal trainer and then received her first prosthesis and learned to ride a bike at the age of 28.
She wants to represent Australia at the Paralympics, too, which should surprise absolutely no one after having read all that.
What have you done lately that others thought you couldn’t?
Comments
16 Comments so far
I hadn’t heard of Deb til yesterday but she has definitely inspired me to work so much harder at my pole dancing. I had double the amount of bruises in last nights class because of her!
I beat my friend’s boyfriend in a push up contest. Real push ups. I got to 25, he only got to 18! Everyone thought he was going to own me completely.
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me too!!
she’s such an inspiration. i’ve made a conscious effort to stop saying “I can’t” in my pole class, and just try harder. I’m not going to let my shoulder issues get in the way either!
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Very proud of Deb! I knew her back when she was ‘Goth’, dancing on stages for events. Also just to note, the goth scene is not made up of misfits & social rejects. It is made up of capable, creative people & some social rejects. Love you Deb, but try not to treat the people you left behind like outcasts.
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I have just run my first half marathon and got an awesome time of just over 2 hrs.
13 months ago I had never run anywhere in my life. I decided a year ago I wanted to do a 10k run in my local marathon, I did it in July and even though I was not really well prepared & I suffered afterwards, I caught the running bug.
Since then I have done triathlons, shorter runs and finally a half marathon. It is an amazing sense of achievement when you push yourself to your limit and go so far out of your comfort zone you don’t recognise yourself. The only sport I had ever done was swimming and I stopped that at 15, so for me to take this up is completely out of character.
My goal is to do the marathon in 4 months, I am going to have to train my butt off running about 40-60k per week, but I am determined to do it.
Life begins at 40 it is so so true
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I am a homebody and I like routine. I do not particularly like to be out of my comfort zone.
I am living on the other side of the world without too much drama at the moment. I cried the whole flight here, I prayed something would happen that meant we couldn’t go.
But I am doing it and one day I will proudly be able to say that I lived overseas for a number of years. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it!
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I have Crohn’s disease, and had to have my colon removed when i was 27, and the mother of a 4 month old (my first). The operation also left me with a permanent ileostomy (a bag on the right side of my abdomen). Since that operation nearly 15 years ago I have: had another baby, got a medical degree (i now work in an emergency department), snorkelled, abseiled, kayaked, travelled overseas, surfed (badly!), had 2 more operations for the Crohn’s
… for me, tje challenge of having an ileostomy has made me a better person, and certainly a better doctor – it’s that old adage ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ i think . Certainly i have had ‘down’ says (why me?!!), but overall i think i am a stronger, better, more able person because of my experiences …
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Wow! You sound like an amazing person.
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Good on you!!
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Many specialists have told me since I was 13 that it would be highly unlikely for me to have children and that it would never happen naturally.
13 weeks pregnant! And on first try too- no medical help required!
Medical specialist told me to quit uni as “You won’t live long enough to finish it anyway”
I am the proud owner of a degree- oh yeah and I’m alive 10 years later
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That is awesome
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Nothing.
I’m not exactly pushing the boundaries being a home maker, and my friends have a higher opinion of my competence than I do, so even if I did plan to do something amazing, I doubt they’d try to talk me down. I have nice friends
That said, maybe it is time for a challenge…. Oh….wait…. I have a three year old….. Challenge accepted!
http://the-accidental-housewife.blogspot.com.au/
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Definitely nothing worth mentioning in response to a post like this.
What an absolute legend! So inspiring!
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Inspiring? No way. I’m also an amputee and nothing frustrates me more than people calling me an ‘inspiration’ even though it is meant in kindness.
Medical researchers are an inspiration as are Australian soldiers. We ‘disabled’ people are just living life! There’s nothing special or inspiring about it
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It’s inspiring to hear that you feel you are just living life. Good for you.
Sorry, I couldnt resist.
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Awesome and inspiring!! Best of luck to Deb. She puts most able-bodied people to shame – including me!
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