Australian Deborah Roach, who is missing an arm, claimed the Ultimate Pole title in the disabled division and said she had always loved to dance."I actually got into an underground Goth scene in my teenage years because I didn't fit into normal society. I loved dancing the night away on the dance floor, and that led to stage dancing in clubs," she said.In 2006, inspired by a circus-themed double act she saw at a club she was dancing in, Roach took up pole dancing and aerial acrobatics, and hasn't looked back.
In 2009 she won a pole dancing competition against able-bodied dancers, which spurred her to quit her job in IT, become a personal trainer, get her first prosthetic and learn to ride a bike at age 28.Other winners said that they had to unlearn habits from their past athletic experiences, such as dropping poses from artistic gymnastics and the like.
