{"id":427702,"date":"2026-01-21T12:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/427702\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:24:08","slug":"national-rugby-hope-for-medic-who-discovered-she-was-deaf-during-covid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/427702\/","title":{"rendered":"National rugby hope for medic who discovered she was deaf during COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"

A remarkable medic at London Ambulance Service is hoping for another call-up to the England Deaf Women\u2019s Rugby Union team next month.<\/p>\n

\"Paramedic<\/p>\n

Emergency Medical Technician Zoe Cox has already earned five international caps since making her debut in South Africa in 2024.<\/p>\n

She now hopes to be part of the national team flying to Jamaica for a test match series in February.<\/p>\n

Discovering she was deaf<\/p>\n

Zoe only discovered she was deaf when mask-wearing during the pandemic made lip-reading impossible.<\/p>\n

Until then, the 28-year-old, had lived her entire life compensating for her severe hearing loss without anyone realising she was deaf.<\/p>\n

But when face coverings became mandatory during COVID, she could no longer rely on visual clues to communicate.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI didn\u2019t know any different. At school I was always getting in trouble and getting moved to the front \u2013 but that was the only way I could follow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I was really naughty. But now I realise how hard I was working to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sport as a refuge<\/p>\n

Sport was a refuge. She was brilliant at it and she could rely on gestures and body language to communicate. She played football and then rugby.<\/p>\n

She became so good at masking her disability, she was able to complete a degree and worked as a physiotherapist with England rugby and as a PE teacher before joining London Ambulance Service. She continued to play rugby throughout.<\/p>\n

But only during COVID, did she find out she was deaf in both ears and fitted with hearing aids.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIt was miraculous. I could suddenly hear things I didn\u2019t know existed before. Like finding out just how loud the ambulance sirens are!\u201d<\/p>\n

Overcoming challenges<\/p>\n

Zoe was initially worried the diagnosis might threaten her career but instead continued to find ways to adapt and seek adjustments.<\/p>\n

She also found a mentor in Richard Webb-Stevens, a deaf paramedic at London Ambulance Service<\/a>, who helped her navigate the practical and emotional challenges of her work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rugby and resilience <\/p>\n

When she\u2019s not on an ambulance, she is training at the gym and with her rugby team. Her determination and skill eventually earned her a place on the England Deaf Women\u2019s Rugby Union team in August 2024.<\/p>\n

She represented England in South Africa and will soon find out if she has been selected to compete in Jamaica.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIn rugby, I don\u2019t need to hear everything to play. I can read the game and read the players and trust my instincts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose instincts also help with my patients. Not everyone can tell you what\u2019s wrong \u2013 they might not know or might not have the words. Being able to read people can make all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

To find out how you can join our incredible team, visit our current vacancies page.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A remarkable medic at London Ambulance Service is hoping for another call-up to the England Deaf Women\u2019s Rugby…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-427702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}