For many artists, whether it be in music, visual art, or even dance, it’s normally a expression of their own creativity and passion. But for a young man named Desmond Blair, it’s more than that: it’s his way of life.
Desmond was born with no hands. It’s often called amelia. Amelia is the birth defect of lacking one or more limbs. It can also result in a shrunken or deformed limb. The term may be modified to indicate the number of legs or arms missing at birth, such as tetra-amelia for the absence of all four limbs. A related term is meromelia, which is the partial absence of a limb or limbs.
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“I started painting because I was trying to solve a problem,” Desmond Blair said. “I tried writing with my feet, with my mouth, and eventually, somehow, I figured out how to write with both my hands.”
After that, he discovered crayons.
“Like any little kid, I was interested in cartoons and liked animation and figuring out how cartoons work. So, that pushed me on to keep learning how to draw, keep practicing, keep getting better,” he said.
And so, an artist was born.
“It took me awhile, but I finally settled on painting portraits.”
But when it comes to Blair’s childhood, there’s no sugar-coating what went on or all the hard times he went through to get here. Kids can be cruel.
“I was the only one in my school, the only one in my church, the only one in my neighborhood, with a limb difference,” Blair explained. “Yeah, you’re still the kid that doesn’t have fingers, but you can still do everything everybody else can.”
And Desmond set out to prove that early on. And he surpassed everyone’s expectations.
Desmond excelled at school and graduated high school early at the age of 16. After the the completion of his undergrad degree at the University of Texas in 2007, Desmond began work in the Media Department at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital. Desmond’s responsibilities at the hospital included the timely production of print graphics such as logos, T-shirt designs, brochures, presentation graphics and photo re-touching. He was also responsible for…
…photographing hospital activities, staff, and patients. During this time he also taught film and editing to a local group of high school students at the South Dallas Cultural Center’s Summer Arts Program. He then went back to school to get his Masters in Fine Arts in 2009–accomplishing all of this while having no hands.
And from every experience, whether good or bad, or every strange stare, Desmond can smile each and every day because he knows who he is and his purpose.
“All of that stuff, I just put it on a canvas and that’s my personal reminder to get up every day and kill it. I don’t think disabled, I think different.”
On his websites, Blair sums up what he is and what he will be perfectly:
“I am an Artist and problem solver. The two attributes go hand in hand. Speaking of which, I was born without hands. However, that has not stopped me or slowed me down in anyway. I have a spirit or fire. ( Although I think it could just be my grandmother’s stubborness.) I am determined, driven, and I will make my way into history by becoming one of the GREATEST artists in the world with a difference (not disability).”
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