Leo Gillick
A man without the one thing that separates us from the apes says that having no thumbs hasn’t stopped him from doing what he wants. He sees it as a challenge, and continues to live as normal a life as he can.
Videos by Rare
Who is he?: Qiao Aalbers, 26, doesn’t let his lack of thumbs take away from his quality of life. He claims he can do pretty much what everyone else can. They say opposable thumbs are the tools that give us the upper hand over other mammals, but this guy is proving them wrong.
@qiaodi.aalbers grieving with no thumbs 😪 #nothumbs #fyp #asian #dance ♬ original sound – Clipse ✟
TikTok Sensation: Aalbers has taken to social media platforms to show off how well he can get around daily life, thumbless. He has taken a humorous, and rather self-deprecatory, approach to his day in the life style TikTok account that combines people’s curiosity with his funny takes on things.
Thumbless and Thriving
Qiao was always quite self-conscious about his lack of thumbs, but as he grew and traveled, he learned to embrace it. While travelling across Europe, he found his stride. Although, as he noted, he was unable to hitchhike during his journey of self-discovery.
As some people have pointed out, he is actually at an advantage over people with thumbs in certain situations. Reaching into the bottom of a Pringles can is much easier without the extra digit. Also, were he ever to be arrested, slipping out of the steel bracelets would be a doodle.
Sure, he may not be a world-class piano player any time soon, but he does still play the guitar, and he plays it well. He took on the challenge in order to push himself and prove that he could still do whatever he wanted.
He has now learned to live with his lack of thumbs. In fact, he even claimed that he would remain that way, given the option. “I spent 26 years getting used to living without thumbs. I’m not going to spend the next 26 getting used to living with thumbs.”
As long as he can still flip the bird, then all is well in the world.
