We’ve heard quite a lots of stories about people overcoming their ordeals and seemingly unpalatable circumstances, creating something amazing out of it. Desmond Blair’s story might be one of the most colourful ones we’ve heard in recent times.
Blair was born without fingers. Although some things came as a struggle, he learned that through this “difference” came a blessing. In the video below, posted on December 23, 2016, Desmond explains, “You only become disabled when you stop yourself from pursuing your dreams and the things you really want to pursue in life, in any area of life.” Those wise words come from an expert on that topic.
Despite being born without fingers, Desmond never gave up on his goal of becoming an artist. Ever since he was a child, he’s always loved art. He figured out how to hold a pen to write. Soon, that pen turned into a paintbrush. Once he got to college, he began more digital work and took an oil painting class. He encountered a lot of trouble securing a job when employers saw his hands and had a hard time believing he was capable of his own work.
So he decided to take things to another level.“I would go on job interviews and I’d get these crazy looks,” Desmond recalls. “People would see my resume, but then I would walk in and not have hands.And so, they were wondering, ‘Well how is he going to use a computer?’ After running into that a couple of times, I started painting again and I started using oil paints, and I decided to record myself because if I was ever in that situation again, I wanted to be able to show somebody if I could paint without fingers, then I’m pretty sure I can do this job.”His art has always been a release for him, but Desmond wishes he could do more with it.“What I would like to do is get to a point where I can use my paintings to really raise money for charity and organizations that work with people with limb differences,” Desmond says of his next steps.
