Actor Olivia Hargroder was not expected to live more than a few days after she was born.
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she → expect → ?
She was probably not going to talk.
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She → go → ?
She was not expected to walk very well.
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She → expect → ?
She dances.
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She → dance → ?
In fact, Olivia dances so well that when she was cast in the lead role of feature film Boss Cat as the rhythm-lacking Sonja, it took all Olivia's acting skills to pull it off.
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it → dance → it
"Once I found out that Sonja's not the best dancer, I found that quite hard to do," Olivia tells Australian Story with a sassy giggle.
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Olivia → find → giggle
Confidence is not something Olivia lacks and it's a quality her mother, Kerry Read, says has helped Olivia rise above the low expectations many impose on people with Down syndrome.
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many → lack → syndrome
"Anyone who meets Olivia will know optimism is her key operating system," Kerry says.
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Kerry → meet → Olivia
"It's very easy when you're constantly put down in life to actually be demotivated.
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you → put → life
By the time Olivia consulted her school careers counsellor, she'd almost completed her final year at a mainstream school and had become so adept at public speaking that she'd addressed the United Nations (UN) in New York on World Down Syndrome Day.
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she → consult → Day
She told the counsellor her next ambition was to study at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), one of Australia's most prestigious acting schools.
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ambition → tell → schools
He just laughed, told her NIDA was for "the elite" and suggested she instead work in a bakery, which, Olivia quips, "is definitely very hard when you're gluten-free".
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you → laugh → bakery
She got into NIDA.
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She → get → NIDA
For one year, she studied with 12 budding thespians at its Open Young Actor's Studio, before undertaking other acting courses.
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she → study → courses
Then, in 2021, she started acting with Bus Stop Films, a disability-led organisation that works with about 250 young adults with intellectual disability, autism or Down syndrome to create films and equip them with skills to get jobs in the industry.
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that → start → industry
"When they asked me to audition for Boss Cat, it was actually an incredible feeling to have because I've never been a lead in a feature before," says Olivia, who lives in Redcliffe, north of Brisbane.
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who → ask → Brisbane
"It was just a dream come true."
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It → come → ?
Olivia has other dreams.
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Olivia → have → dreams
The one she's held the longest is to dance on Broadway in musicals.
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she → hold → musicals
Her absolute biggest dream, she says, is to be a dancer on tour with her idol, Taylor Swift.
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she → say → idol
Unachievable? Don't tell Olivia that, says Kerry.
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Kerry → tell → that
"She does have huge dreams and sometimes," Kerry says, "the most unachievable dreams she actually achieves."
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she → have → dreams
At her routine 20-week pregnancy scan, Kerry was told her baby had a heart condition that was "apparently incompatible with life".
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that → tell → life
She was advised "very, very strongly" to have a termination.
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She → advise → termination
But Kerry's desire to hold her third child in her arms for as long as she was granted — "moments, days, whatever" — overruled the experts.
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she → hold → experts
When Olivia was born, Kerry, a 40-something physiotherapist at the time, knew immediately that her daughter had Down syndrome.
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daughter → bear → syndrome
"She had a gap between her first and second toes which is so classic of Down syndrome," says Kerry, who had not had scans to detect the chromosomal condition.
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who → have → condition
"But it didn't matter because every moment was precious and I never really thought that her Down syndrome was a problem.
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syndrome → matter → ?
It was just, 'How long was she going to live?'"
Having survived the first few days, it was hoped Olivia would make it to three months before undergoing surgery on the hole in her heart but, at nine weeks, she was deteriorating and whisked into surgery.
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she → go → surgery
She had a 20 per cent chance of survival.
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She → have → survival
"I always say she's a sparky kid and she is determined to hang on," Kerry says.
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Kerry → say → ?
"And hang on she did.
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she → hang → ?
"It wasn't just the doctors and nurses who saved my life," she says.
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she → save → life
Kerry was told Olivia would probably not be able to speak, or her speech would be delayed.
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speech → tell → ?
So, when Olivia was four months old, Kerry started teaching her, along with her other daughters Emily and Lucy, how to sign
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Kerry → start → daughters
Through play, she worked on improving Olivia's low muscle tone (which is characteristic of Down syndrome), exposed her to sensory stimulation and ensured Olivia made her own choices.
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Olivia → work → choices
Says Emily: "Mum never limited her but Mum never forced her to do anything either.
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Mum → say → anything
I think that's really important too, that it wasn't, 'We're going to defy the odds'.
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We → think → odds
And Olivia knew she was a dancer.
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she → know → ?
She loved learning routines with her sisters and dancing to music videos.
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She → love → videos
…and 52 more, not listed.
The Aporia