[00:00:01] Speaker A: Choice and Control is a podcast celebrating meaningful inclusion of people with disability in our communities, brought to you by carers Queensland, your NDIs local area coordination partner in the community.
Each episode provides a conversation space for people with disability, their families and carers to share their stories with you. We also hear from members of the wider community, local businesses and community leaders who share information, ideas and possibilities to give you more opportunity and more choice and control in your life.
Eric Hori, a 44 year old rower from the Gold coast, represents the spirit of a Paralympian and has said that the honour of being a paralympic medalist holds an even greater significance. Several years ago, Eric's path was dramatically altered by a car accident that led to Paraplegia, which became the catalyst for his love of competitive rowing. From 2011, a highly decorated para athlete, Eric competed at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, the Rio 2016 Games and the 2020 games in Tokyo, cementing himself as Australia's most successful para rower with silver in the pr one men's single skull, adding to his two silver medals from the two previous games, he is the first australian rower to win three paralympic medals and this year Eric is jetting off to Paris to represent Australia in para rowing once more. Our interviewer Emily caught up with Eric and started by asking him about how his para athletic journey began.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: I was involved in head on motor vehicle accident which left me t twelve paraplegic.
So, yeah, changed my life. But yeah, it's one of those things that I think if that didn't happen, I wouldn't be the person I am today.
[00:02:00] Speaker C: What age were you?
[00:02:01] Speaker B: 21.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: I'm just a young lad.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: Yeah. So just had our first born, was only a couple of months old, so it was certainly a very tough time on my family to adjust to, to not only looking after a newborn baby but basically looking after me as well. So in the earlier stage.
[00:02:23] Speaker C: So were you a rower before you had your accident?
[00:02:25] Speaker B: No. No.
Here we go.
[00:02:28] Speaker C: So let's see what you.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: I'd never actually rode a boat before I started rowing, so it's not long after my accident I got involved in wheelchair basketball, which is most probably one of the most common sports for a lot of people that acquire various medical conditions is wheelchair basketball.
So I played that for the Queensland spinning bullets and then made the australian rollers.
Went on to do that for a number of years and then we won the, I think it was 2010 oceanic championship and then I had the chat with the coach, thanks a lot that you won't be traveling internationally.
So it's a thing as an athlete that it was a. Like my whole world had just been turned upside down again. So I pretty much turned around and said to him, well, that's fine. I'll go to the games and win my own medal.
And then it was, okay, well, what sport am I going to do? I got offered hand cycling and then got. Got offered rowing.
I ended up with a pressure saw, so I couldn't do the hand cycling.
So rowing, how hard can it be? It was a case of basically a road cycling race was 35 km. Rowing. Race was one k. Hmm. Wonder which one we'll take. We'll definitely take the one k. How hard can it be?
The pictures look really good. So I got the old car salesman game sort of played on me, I think, with the choosing rowing, because there was a lot of stuff behind those nice little pictures that there was no mention of. So, yeah, started in rowing and it sort of went from there and I've just been very successful ever since.
[00:04:15] Speaker C: So when you say a lot of things, I'm thinking, balance course, sitting in a boat, like, what are the things that you didn't realize and how did you get a salesman pitch? Like, you can do that? It's going to be easy. Did you like. How did that all.
[00:04:28] Speaker B: It's pretty much like. I mean, I was down in Canberra at the Australian Institute of Sport, so they had talent id officers that would go around and speak with athletes about changing sports or finding new athletes to be the next generation of paralympic athletes or Olympians. So they knew that the coach had a chat with me, so they come up and said, look, you. You're a very dedicated athlete as far as training and everything goes. It'd be a shame for you just to sort of disappear into the limelight and that's it. Your sporting career is done. So they said, well, what do you want to do? There's a number of sports out there. Have you done this? Have you done that? And, yeah, hand cycling and rowing were two things that they mentioned. It was like, okay, well, I live in Queensland. What can I do? And then, yeah, sort of went from there.
But, yeah, the balance, the whole aspect of being in a wheelchair and then having, like, sitting in a boat and someone pushing you off the pontoon, it's sort of, to start with, like, oh, okay, this is a bit different and you're strapped into the boat for my classification with rowing. So it was a whole aspect, but it was, at the same token, actually being able to see the chair sitting on the pontoon and me not being in it. And then when I sort of looked at some of the school kids that were around and, and stuff like that. There wasn't really any difference to how I looked when I was sitting there in the boat. A little bit of equipment changes, but I was still doing the same thing, trying to find my balance exactly the same as the kids were in the learn to row program. So it sort of made me go, okay, it's got rid of that whole boundary of able body para and stuff like that. So it was one of those things. And as an athlete, I don't like when people say that I can't do something. So earlier on in that I'd had a chat with a number of coaches and stuff like that, and a previous australian rowing coach for the paras turned around and said to me, oh, we have the next world champ. We have the person in the classification that you're going to be. He hadn't even met me before. He'd just spoken to me on the phone. So it's like, hang on a second. You don't tell me that I'm going to prove you wrong.
So it sort of went from there and a lot of it's, I guess, just my stubbornness, just to hate being told that I can't do something.
And being, I guess, a smaller size sort of person compared to what people look at as a rower should have massive arms, big shoulders. I mean, when I first started rowing, I was about 52 kilos, so, I mean, I was little.
So everything that the image they had for what an athlete should be, her rowing, I didn't match anything apart from I had long arms. That was the only thing that they could say that I ticked the box. So it's that very much of it, I guess society has an image of what people should be to be in this line of work or this type of sport, and I don't agree with that. And it's great fun proving them wrong. So, yeah, a lot of my journey sort of started just with proving people wrong.
You've got to be determined in every part of life. I think that's one of the biggest things. And with various impairments or medical conditions, it makes it even harder again. So it's about trying to get people to look at me as a person and not as my impairment, not as someone in a chair. I think that's the, the biggest part. Like, I'm still the same person before my accident. The only thing is I went from being six foot two, now I'm four foot one. So it's.
My brain still works. I can still talk. I can, yeah. Look after myself.
[00:08:43] Speaker C: So I think that's the biggest I've spoken to, you know, hundreds of people with disability, and it's just about trying to get that message across that, you know, it's not a disability. You've still got abilities. You know, it's just trying to get people's heads around it.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. Like, the night of my accident was one of the worst nights of my life.
Just.
It changed everything. And for me, for my wife and for my kids, I'd never be the same father that I would have been before the accident.
But none of my kids have ever seen me walk. So it's actually one good thing. Cause none of my kids have ever been able to argue with each other and go, well, I've seen dad walk. Where? To me and to my kids, the chair's just how I am. So my son's seeing pictures and he goes, oh, where's your wheelchair? Oh, that's not you. So. Just didn't recognize the person. Not in a chair. So that makes it a lot easier. But it's.
Without that night, I. I wouldn't be the person that I am today. Like, I've. I've done more in my life now than I mostly would have if I wasn't.
If I never had that accident, ended up in a wheelchair. It hasn't been good. Like, there's been a lot of bad stuff, um, that has happened from the accident and stuff like that, but I guess it took a while to try to get over the bad stuff and not to focus on that and more to focus on the good stuff in life. And I think, for me, sport was that thing that really, I guess, turned the light on and really got me into the community and seeing I was no different, so. But, yeah, I mean, I'm just very lucky to be able to represent Australia, and I've done it in two sports, and I. Yeah. Get to go to paralympic games and travel the world as an athlete.
[00:10:41] Speaker C: So it must be so tough, mentally, to have your entire life, a 21 young man. Right. Six two in primary life going.
How do you get through that?
[00:10:50] Speaker B: A very good and supportive wife, most probably. That's the. That's the biggest part, is my partner, like, she's there.
I don't. There's nothing I could give her that could say thanks enough in this world for being beside me and supporting me throughout everything that I've gone through in the ups and the downs. And one of the hardest parts is the person that's closest to you is actually affected by the impairment as much as the person that has the impairment. And a lot of people always kept on saying, you'll be fine, you'll be fine.
But I think a lot of people forget that the people that are around you, like your partners or your kids or whoever's around in your circle, how much it actually affects them.
And they never actually thought about during the process.
I mean, I went through a very dark stage of not wanting to go to counselling instead of going to counselling. I was going to the pub, and then the counselor rung up one day and left a message on the answer machine. I was a little bit longer at the pub than normal.
Partner got home and seen. There was a message and pressed play on the answer machine. And there's the counsellor saying, I hope you get better. So, yeah, it was. I got. I did go down that tunnel, and then I met a guy, actually, who played wheelchair basketball and is actually in the wheelchair industry at wicked wheelchairs. And Dion pretty much basically said to me, look, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just get off your backside. I'll be back at 05:00 I'm going to take you to basketball. And that was most probably the day that changed a lot for me, was. I mean, I couldn't say, you don't know how I feel.
I couldn't say to him, you're not going through what I'm going through. Cause it's. He's looking straight back at me and he's the same height, he's in a chair. He's gone through an accident.
He understands that everything that I've gone through. So it was mostly that day that it really turned. And I think without him being so stubborn and going, no, you're. I'm coming to get you, and taking me. And it opened my eyes up to, I guess, a lot of stuff that you.
You can't research, you can't sort of learn in hospital or from doctors and nurses.
It's actually talking with other people that are going through the exact same thing. As far as gone through an accident changed their life. And all the medical stuff, like a wheelchair is very easy to get hold of, very. To get over, especially for a young male. It was more of a male ego was most probably the biggest part.
And a lot of the stuff was like, going to the bathrooms, you go somewhere. The males toilets, it's not really wheelchair accessible. They don't think of that a lot of the time. So there was a lot of that stuff was questions like, could I have kids, could I do this? Could I do that? So it was all questions I didn't want to be asking someone else. But there was no boundaries. When you're in amongst people that are sitting in a chair and have gone through a traumatic experience, and even though we're in chairs, we're not the same, but we can relate to.
To what each other are going through. And I think that's mostly one of the big things within parasport is it is very easy for people just to go, oh, they're para athletes and they're all the same.
It doesn't matter what person you line up, you could have somebody that's got, for my example, t twelve paraplegic complete lesion. You could line up ten people with exact same lesion and not one of us are going to be exactly the same because we weren't the same before the accident and we're not the same after. So just because we have the same medical condition doesn't mean that we're all the same painting. So, I mean, that's one of the biggest things.
[00:15:23] Speaker D: Lac COnnect it's a new way to stay in touch with your local area coordinator at Carers Queensland with everything you need right here on your device. It's a handy app to keep track of your lac appointments, browse workshops and events, check out information and support, and get the latest news, stories and podcasts. It's available on Android and iOS, so whatever device you have, you can stay in touch. Head to our website to sign
[email protected] dot au and look for Lac connect.
[00:15:55] Speaker A: Before becoming a champion para rower, Eric played wheelchair basketball. Yet after being told that he wouldn't be playing for Australia, it was a difficult time after investing in the expensive equipment needed to compete in a para athletic sport.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it was. It was like my family had got used to me traveling around Australia playing basketball and stuff like that. And it was. I had dreams of going to the London Paralympic Games in 2012 playing basketball. So my life had been planned around that. Spending large amounts of money trying to have equipment to be able to play the sport and then to be told, no, sorry, that dream's over. And I mean, just gone out and spent thousands of dollars on equipment that you just received to play. I got a chair that played four games in and then I get told that you won't be playing anymore. So that sort of stuff, it's not like going to rebel sport and picking up a pair of basketball boots. I mean, in various sports and para level, it's you're spending anywhere from sort of 10,000 and above for equipment. Wow. So. And the equipment gets damaged.
Technology changes, rules change, so you've got to be keeping up with the technology. And it's mostly one of the hardest things. I think, that society don't realize that to try to have people get involved in various sports, it's all different equipment, so it doesn't matter if it's cycling or whatever. It's. You've got to have a special equipment adapted to. To your needs, and every person's wheelchair is different, so.
[00:17:49] Speaker C: And with your rowing, has that been something that now you've done both? What do you prefer?
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Um, I like. I love both.
Basketball is a team sport where in my rowing, I'm a single sculler because of my impairment, but I'm still part of a team. So, I mean, that's the. The biggest part. People think when they see a solo athlete. Oh, that's just them. They're a solo. They're not part of team sport. We might race the event singly, but we are still included within the banner of the Team Australia Paralympic mob and stuff like that. So that's the most. Probably the biggest thing. But, I mean, one thing with rowing, I've got no one to blame if I.
If I do badly. There's only one person that you can look at, and if I do great, I don't have to share the glory with the rest of the team. But, yeah, there are some days that you sort of wish that there were more people around because it does get very lonely as a single scholar, training by yourself all the time and stuff like that.
[00:18:57] Speaker C: But do you have music? Did he go, what do you do? You just.
[00:19:00] Speaker B: What?
[00:19:01] Speaker C: Like, just you just count, like. Because I wonder where people sort of your christians, like, she said, how do you stay motivated? Like, wouldn't you, like, I just want to stop. Like, what keeps you going? What are you thinking about?
[00:19:10] Speaker B: Like, representing. I mean, being able to put on the green and gold.
I mean, I've been lucky enough to see the flag being raised, hearing the anthem being played and stuff like that. And those are the things that remember, like the world championships that I've won and stuff like that. I don't really remember the race, but the one thing that I do remember is actually being on the podium and seeing the flag raised.
That's something that unless you've experienced that sensation that you get as they're calling your name out and the gold medalist is this person, and that's the sensation that you can't forget.
And then if you're not in gold and you're in silver or bronze or fourth place or whatever, it's that hunger of getting back to that position, and it's. It's pretty much just my stubbornness, I guess. Just keep trying, trying. But I love training, and I think that's the. One of the biggest things, is you've got to love what you do. And I love just being active. I love getting out there and trying to improve a sport for the next generation of athletes to come through to make it easier for them to get into a sport and not have the struggles and try to find the barriers to change that I've had to face since starting.
[00:20:43] Speaker C: Rowan, do you think you've mentioned that you'd like to leave sort of a legacy? Is that something once you're. When do you have to retire? Do you age out? Or is you just skill out? How does that go? You could be rowing for another ten years, right?
[00:20:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm in no hurry to retire.
I'm loving Rowan and I'm still going. Well, I'm not winning everything all the time now, which is. That takes a bit to get used to, because for a while there, I was just winning whatever I wanted. So, yeah, I've certainly learned what it's like at the top and certainly learned what it's actually like for my opposition when I was winning. So it's that hunger there. But as far as leaving a legacy. Yeah, I mean, it's.
I want.
I'd love to be Alva. To rock up to a rowing shed here on the Gold coast and just be able to see someone in a wheelchair having no issues as far as accessibility, being able to use a pontoon to get down into a boat. And it doesn't have to be rowing, it can be kayaking or just general water sport, where, unfortunately, a lot of the establishments down this way aren't accessible.
[00:21:57] Speaker C: Yeah, you were saying? So what's on?
[00:21:59] Speaker A: None.
[00:21:59] Speaker C: You can't get into anything?
[00:22:00] Speaker B: No, not that. I can have all my equipment at and stuff like that.
[00:22:05] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: So it's.
[00:22:07] Speaker C: So you commute?
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Yeah, so I drive an hour every morning, so that's why I'm up at ten to four every morning and on the road by 430. So it's that sort of stuff. I love that athletes don't have to do. And to be able to get more athletes involved in various sports and to do that, you have to have accessibility, because if someone has to drive an hour to try to learn a new sport, their parents or their partners and stuff like that might not be as sort of supportive, but if you can do it within your own sort of a closer community sort of region, there's more opportunity for more people to get involved in various sports. And I think that's one of the biggest part, was actually just trying to find, where can I do this? Or where can I do that? Sport, you don't have to do sport to go, oh, I'm going to go to a paralympics, I'm going to be a world champ. Sports, not always about that, and that's one of the biggest thing that people go, oh, I've got no issue. I've got no desire to go to a Paralympics. And that, that's fine. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be involved.
Mostly one of the biggest things with having various impairments that sport does.
Mentally, it helps you, but physically as well, like, your health becomes so much more critical. Whether you're in a chair amputation or whatever your impairment is. Just being active and getting that movement actually makes your life better.
It's not about the sport, it's about your life outside of the sport. And I think just being active in movement throughout whatever sport it can be, and it doesn't have to be something that's physical, it can be very light, active movements, but it actually helps you health. And I think that's one of the biggest things where if you don't have that sort of movement, there's a lot of stuff that can happen, and you have a lot of side effects from not having as much movement. It just affects your day to day life a lot more with various impairments. So I think this is giving you.
[00:24:23] Speaker C: Longevity of life, too, isn't it?
[00:24:24] Speaker B: Yeah, 100%. And I think that's the biggest thing. Like, society is always worried about cost of the nations getting older and the nation's age and age care and all this sort of stuff, and you're super and all that. And just being a bit active can make a massive, massive difference. And not only that, it shows the people that are around you as well, but your motivation and stuff like that.
It's showing that you're still the same person. And that's the. I think, yeah, a lot of people think, oh, I can't do that, I can't do that. It's not about winning.
I hate the fact that everyone always talks about sport, and it's always about winning the medal, always being a world champ. I mean, those are easy to get, but the biggest thing is people forget who win world titles, gold medals very quickly.
[00:25:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: I mean, the medals sit back in a cupboard.
[00:25:28] Speaker C: Yeah. Where are your middles?
[00:25:29] Speaker B: In the cupboard. Yeah. So, I mean, that's it. But I mean, the middles are. Yeah, great. They're shiny, they're nice, they look perfect and all that sort of stuff, but that's not who I am. I mean, it, obviously I do it to win medals. Yes.
And I love winning medals for my nation and winning medals for my family and stuff like that to show the kids that I can do this. I mean, it took me a while to realize that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if I win a medal or don't win a medal, the families still are there. So the people that support me if I win or lose are still there. So, I mean, that's the, that's the biggest part. You got to, as an athlete, be very careful that you don't go into a tunnel of chasing a gold medal. And I went down that tunnel and you just put on the blinkers, basically. And it's all about winning a medal and you lose the love, the enjoyment and I think that's. That's the biggest part, is showing people that to have fun. It's not about winning, it's not about how much you beat this person by. And I hate the fact that, I guess a lot of kids in this day and age, it's all about winning.
Winning the being first or how much money I'm going to get or chasing this and chasing that. It doesn't make you a better person if you're a champ.
Sometimes it can do the total opposite and I've seen that and you've just got to be the normal person.
[00:27:12] Speaker E: Disaster doesn't discriminate in an emergency. Our community and first responders need to be ready to help keep everyone safe. Keres Queensland is working with local agencies and emergency services to ensure people with disability are considered and included. Everyone has a role to play at times of disaster by people with disability, creating their own person centred emergency preparedness or PSAP plan and sharing their plan with their support network. They can feel more confident to keep safe during emergencies. Find out more, get in touch or look for events and opportunities coming up near you. Visit our website carersqld.com dot au or call our enquiries line on 1309 9636.
[00:27:54] Speaker A: Athletes often have rituals and training programs that help put them in the right headspace for competing. Here, Eric shares his training and racing routine.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: One of my main things I do is I only wear one zoodie. So the race outfit, it does get washed in between races. I hand wash it so it is clean.
But that's mostly one of the main things. I start the regatta, it's called for the racing with that one, zootye. And that's the one I'll race. Um, that's just one thing I've always, always done. And, I mean, apart from that, it's mostly more recently as well. It's just wearing really funky out there socks just to stand out. Like, I have a pair of socks with the wife's face on, just for the giggles. She got them for me and thought I wouldn't wear them, and I've worn them racing at World Cups and stuff like that. So it saves money because I just take a photo of her being on the socks so she doesn't have to go to various countries. So it's all good.
[00:29:04] Speaker C: Are you bringing them at the Paralympics?
[00:29:06] Speaker B: Yeah. You've got to be very careful with Paralympics because of branding and sponsors and endorsements and stuff. So socks are a pretty easy area that you can float around and, I mean, it makes me feel comfortable in the boat. So that's what's best for my performance. I'll do various.
They can be cartoon socks, they can be Disney socks. They just. Yeah, like SpongeBob and Patrick and all this sort of stuff. So it's just about being different. It's not about. I hate just being the same as everyone in that way. So it's like, I've got it. I've just got to do something now to. To stand out. Yes. Yeah. There's no point just being exactly the same as everyone else because I'm not.
[00:29:54] Speaker C: No. Is your family coming with you?
[00:29:56] Speaker B: No, no. It's not only the cost, but it's. I honestly think it'd be more of a distraction because I'd be worried about. Oh, are they okay? Are the kids okay? Are they behaving and stuff like that? And you don't get to see them.
[00:30:12] Speaker C: No, true.
[00:30:13] Speaker B: There's no point, really.
[00:30:14] Speaker C: They're probably similar to you on tv.
[00:30:15] Speaker B: Yeah. So, I mean, that's the. The biggest part, because your family can't come in the village. They can't go into where I'm warming up. They. Yeah. So. And especially with the games on, they. Security and stuff like that is just next level. So you just can't. It's not as quick and easy in and out all the time, so.
And you don't want to be getting sick with them being outside the village doing everything and then you're going out and the likelihood of picking up bugs and stuff from them at that race point is pretty high. So, no, so, I mean, when we come. When I come home, we'll go on a holiday and it's about them. It's not about the sport, because I think that's the biggest part. If your family come on a holiday with you to the event, it's actually not a holiday, it's not about them, it's not about having a good time. It's only about me. And that's. That's the biggest part. Like, I'm away a lot and have spent a lot of time away from the family. Like, I miss. I mean, since my son was born in 2012, I missed the birth because I was in London at the Paralympics.
I've only been home, I think, what is it? During COVID was the first time I'd been home for his birthday.
[00:31:27] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:31:28] Speaker B: So if you people say such terrible things come through Covid, but for me, it actually. There was a lot of things that I had never done when the two younger kids really was being home for their birthdays and stuff like that. So there were some good things about COVID for me, but, yeah, we'll just go on a family holiday and it's just about the family, just about having a good. A good time. It's nothing about sport. Not if I win or if I don't or whatever their outcome is from the games that's forgotten.
You've got it. You've got to be able to. To basically. Okay, that's done. Bang. The oars are up on the rack. I'm going home.
I'm now dad and I'm now the partner. I'm now, yeah, the person at home. So, because if you can't separate, it breaks down the barriers in home and makes it very hard.
[00:32:26] Speaker C: What message would you like to convey to young athletes dreaming of paralympic success?
[00:32:32] Speaker B: If you believe in yourself, chase your dreams. It's don't let one result when you start sport turn you away.
Nothing's easy.
And that's the biggest part. Like, throughout the journey, never stop having fun.
And I think that's the biggest part is enjoy what you're doing having fun if it's whatever sport you choose, because when you do become an elite athlete, depending on the sports or whatever, a lot of the time that fun disappears. And I think that's the hardest part. If you speak to any athlete that's retired or looking at retiring, it's become a job and it's a seven day a week job, you spend a lot of time traveling.
Airport flights no longer become great fun and all that sort of stuff. You live out of a suitcase, so there's a lot that happens behind the cameras, behind the lights and stuff like that, but, and always remember the people that were there at the start to support you. And that's the. Always appreciate the help because that's the one thing, being an athlete, you get the glory, but all the people behind the scenes that put the effort into you don't get any of it. So just because you might be winning something doesn't mean that you've won that yourself. Your team's won that. So, yeah, it's just never, never take anything for granted.
[00:34:18] Speaker C: And I suppose to someone who's just gone through a traumatic car accidental injury and is now in a wheelchair, what would be, I mean, you can't just give them one piece of advice. But, you know, what would you say? Someone who say, six months out of.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: Hospital, I mean, it's mostly one of the biggest part is talk about it.
Ask for help.
Put your hand up and say, look, I need help. That's supposed to be one of the biggest things, I think when it. At the earliest stages, because for the first sort of 1212 months, 24 months, there's a lot of small things that you'll, you'll notice that has changed since your impairment or whatever your medical condition is. And it's about asking help. It doesn't make you a less of a person.
But I think if you don't ask for help and speak to people about it, like counseling and stuff like that, seeing a counselor doesn't make you a less of a person. I mean, as an athlete, it's a compulsory thing now that all athletes do. We have sports psychologists.
I myself have struggled with mental health, depression and stuff. So it was most probably a big defining point of going, I'm struggling and actually ask for help. So it's what I think that's the biggest thing. It's just don't be afraid to. To put your hand up and ask. Like, it's.
People can help guide you in the right directions. And just being able to have someone listen, it's not about them answering your questions. It's about someone sitting there and listening to how you're feeling. I think that's the biggest part is people just need to listen. They aren't able to solve the problems. And I think that's the biggest thing people should have rush into your bedside and, oh, we can do this, we can do that. And it's not what you want to hear at the start. You just want someone to be able to talk to. It might not make sense what you're saying. It might not. But at least the person laying there or the person going through the situation can see that someone's there just to listen to them and that makes them feel, oh, that bit of. And having someone, oh, we're gonna do this. We're gonna do that to you. So I think that's the. Must be the biggest part, is. Yeah, ask for help and.
And if you're a person that's going in and you have a loved one that is going through the situation, it's not about trying to fix the world for them, it's just being there for the. For the person and actually just listening. It's not. You don't have to say a word, but just listen, because they're going to be wanting to do a lot more talking than you're going to be able to answer. So I think that's the. That should be the biggest thing. Yeah. People are very quick to judge and that's the. That's the biggest part. It's. I've been very lucky from my results, you know, I've won five world titles, three paralympic silver medals, numerous world records, on and off the water. I've. At my oam, I've met the Royals, I've done all that sort of stuff, but it doesn't make me a better person. People that work within the whole community, care, the whole circle, it's not just one thing that they do. Like, I row a boat, that's my one thing that I do. I sit on my back, literally sit on my backside and go backwards, and that's what I do.
But if you mean, like, when you look at what you do, you do numerous things. But it's not just about one person, it's about the community. It's about the good of what has been done to the community. And I think it doesn't matter if I play footy or whatever you do or if you drive this car or drive that cardinal. That's the way society thinks that, oh, you're a good person.
But I think it's what you do back to the community and how you impact so many other people's lives is what is actually more, I think, amazing than me winning medals. And I think that's the part that is. People that work within the community health and especially with various impairments and medical conditions, don't get the recognition that they should because they're not just changing their life. They're changing so many lives. Inclusion is a great word. It is an unbelievable word, but it's.
[00:39:13] Speaker C: Thrown away too much.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: Yes, and it's a case of, you can learn a lot from a book, but that book isn't gonna help you when you're actually in the real life. That's the biggest part. When you're dealing with emotions, you're dealing with everything else on top. That book hasn't got the answer to deal with those emotions. And I think that's the. That should be one of the biggest things that, I guess, in your industry.
[00:39:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:39:44] Speaker B: People take for granted that way. I'm just. Yeah, like I said, I sit on my backside and go backwards and, and get praised for my performance, but, yeah.
[00:39:56] Speaker C: Yeah, but you do so much more that you don't talk about, you know, just by being you. Do you hate the word being called? Do you hate when people say, you inspire me?
No, I mean, it's.
[00:40:06] Speaker B: Inspire me. It can be taken in many ways.
It's like anything in life. You take the positives and negatives out of a situation. But, yeah, it's great. I mean, if I can. My biggest thing is, like, I grew up through domestic violence and abuse and I was like, watered the state from the age of seven into boys town and stuff like that. So my biggest thing is a number. I hate when everything becomes about a number because that's how I lived. I was always. It wasn't my name, it was referred to, like, as a number.
So appreciation is much of the biggest things for me. And I mean, I've seen people that have allowed their success go to the head and it still happens in this day and age. You see various sports people earning millions of dollars and yeah, they aren't really the best role models, but what do you class as a good role model in this day and age? It's just someone being normal.
[00:41:14] Speaker C: Yeah, so true.
[00:41:15] Speaker B: It's not about, look at my flashcar or I have all these sponsors. I mean, it's. That's the biggest thing. A camera and a filter changes so much when they go home behind the closed door. You don't know what's happening. That's the biggest part. It's.
Yeah, when the, when the game stops and the race is over, that's the, that's when you find out actually the sort of person that a lot of people are in the sporting circles. It's not the one that's standing on the podium, it's one. Then they don't get the performance and how they react to that and how they, I guess, the feedback on the program and the support staff that they had.
That's when you find out what the person's actually like.
[00:42:09] Speaker A: That was 44 year old Eric Horry from the Gold coast, who's soon off to Paris to compete in the 2024 games in para rowing. And if you'd like to follow Eric's journey, visit the links in the episode transcript for more stories from our Queensland Paralympians. Tune into choice and control for more great podcasts.
Thanks for joining us at Choice and a Carers Queensland podcast. If you've enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to leave a rating and review and share it with your community. For more information about the National Disability Insurance Scheme or Carers Queensland, contact us online at www.carersqld.com au or call us on 1300 triple 9636 or head to Facebook and look for carers Queensland NDIs.
