No hands, no excuses: How Ryan Hudson-Peralta built a thriving design career inspiring other designers with disabilities

“Don’t be your own speed bump” is a phrase that means a lot to Ryan Hudson-Peralta. It’s been his guiding principle (and official slogan) for many years. A designer, artist, and motivational speaker, Hudson-Peralta wants these words to inspire everyone to identify and follow their dreams, no matter the obstacles. Obstacles are something he knows a lot about. Born without hands and severely shortened legs, he’s faced more than his fair share.

It’s difficult for Hudson-Peralta to do many tasks in a world built for those without disabilities — even harder is the way some in society have treated him over the years. At eight years old, he told his teachers that he wanted to be an artist, only to have them say it was simply not possible since he did not have hands. Distraught, he told his grandfather what they said.

“He said to me, ‘Ryan, you're going to have people that doubt you every single day of your life, but the only person you need in this world to believe in you is yourself. From that moment forward, there was nothing stopping me. I knew that if I believed in myself, anything was possible, everything was possible.”

Fast forward many years and Hudson-Peralta is now a successful product designer, artist, motivational speaker, father, husband, and actor & model. Based in Detroit, he is a product designer for Rocket Central — the centralized hub for the Rocket Companies fintech platform. In this role, he assists Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes, and their sister companies with their product and design needs. He is also an outspoken advocate for accessible design. A long-time fan of Photoshop and Adobe XD, he uses both in his professional life — albeit in a slightly different way than most.

Learning to draw and design without hands or relying on feet

Hudson-Peralta’s path to becoming a successful product designer started with his love of art. As a child, he would draw with his feet — but as he got older, he realized he needed a way to be able to stay seated and still draw. So, he started drawing by putting the pencil between his chin and shoulder.

By age 12, he had turned his love of drawing into a business, creating and selling greeting cards. It was a visit to a comic book shop, though, that changed his life. “I met an artist there and he showed me a poster he made for the store. I asked him how he did it, and he said ‘Oh, I used Photoshop.’ After that, it was over — I convinced my parents to buy me a computer and Photoshop. I fell in love with drawing on the computer,” he says.

Since Hudson-Peralta draws with his chin and shoulder, it simply wasn’t possible for him to use a Wacom tablet since he cannot see the screen and draw at the same time (and models with a screen built-in were simply too expensive in the 1990s). Instead, he learned to draw digitally with a mouse, which he continues to use as his primary design tool to this day. Quickly learning how to make professional-grade work with Photoshop, he started doing logos and expanded his business into web design.

“This whole process taught me to be confident. I am far from unique — I talk to other designers that have disabilities, and I'll hear that confidence in their head too. We have no choice. Anybody that has a disability and wants to get into design, just do it. Believe in yourself and take the first step, which is to start and stay positive.”

Breaking into a career in design and fighting stigma along the way

As he hit adulthood, Hudson-Peralta continued his pursuit of an art career. He spent two years at art school in Detroit but found it very difficult to study and follow the curriculum with his disability (the need to rely on books to learn material was a particular challenge before eBooks — holding a book and turning pages was difficult). Frustrated, he concentrated instead on his existing design business. Building on his freelance success, he put together a portfolio and began applying for design jobs to take his career to the next level.

“I was looking for local companies I could work at. I emailed my portfolio to one company, and they responded that it was some of the greatest work they'd ever seen. And then when I showed up for the interview, I might as well have shown up without a head — literally jaws to the floor.” He didn’t get the position.

Unable to find a full-time design job, Hudson-Peralta continued to build his practice. He did that for seven years, having his son along the way and eventually working with the U.S. Army as a civilian employee. It was this gig that led him to Rocket Central, where he cultivated his UX skills and where he’s been a designer for the past nine years.

From graphic design to UX and accessible design

“I’ve always been able to see things a little differently because of my disability,” said Hudson-Peralta, sharing the story of how he got into UX design. Like all great designers, he can see user problems at the heart of friction and frustration — including some problems others may miss. “I’m 3 ft. 6, so I literally see life from a different perspective.”

He remembers the moment he fell in love with the idea of product design — a moment that led him to where he is today. “It was when the first iPhone came out and I used the first touchscreen app that everything changed for me. I was able to use my phone with my arm and feet. I fell in love with the idea of making things, especially easy-to-use apps.”

To this day Hudson-Peralta still brings that same enthusiasm for “making things” into his work at Rocket Central, most recently designing the Rocket Homes Real Estate app. For this, and most of his UX work, he uses Adobe XD to design, prototype, and share his creations. Already a long-time user of Photoshop and Illustrator, it was this familiarity with the interface that helped him easily transition his drawing skills into a design and prototyping workflow.

Looking to video games for accessibility inspiration

Living life with a disability has made Hudson-Peralta a natural-born UX designer and it has also given him a calling in making products more accessible. He points to video games as an example that software can and should follow — studios around the world are making strides to build accessibility features into games. He collaborated with video game maker Naughty Dog, the maker of Uncharted and The Last of Us to help make games more accessible for folks like him.

“I don't know of a game that has better accessibility features than what Naughty Dog did in The Last of Us. They have so many accessibility features in that game — every single thing you can think of, for example for people that are visually impaired or have mobility challenges,” he says.

“We see inclusive marketing all the time now, which I feel is getting better. To be truly inclusive product designers we need to think beyond our own toolbox. We need to think of other people's toolboxes,” he adds. Despite the challenges that persist Hudson-Peralta believes we are heading towards a much more accessible future — he points to innovations in voice design as being particularly impactful for those with disabilities.

Hudson-Peralta doesn’t mince words about a lack of representation of designers with disabilities. Throughout his life, there haven’t been many mentors, peers, or examples in the media of someone born like him achieving success in design. It’s for this reason that he feels it’s so important to be visible and outspoken about his work and his journey.

“Kids have told me, they want to be a designer and they didn’t think they could do it until they saw my story. It’s so incredible to be able to share. To them I always say, ‘the first step to getting started is to get started. Open up XD, make an interface, build a prototype. I love being able to quickly just prototype something out, an idea in my head, and just put my interface or wireframe together and send it to my phone and try it out. And other aspiring designers with disabilities can too.”

While the tools have caught up, to a certain extent, and Hudson-Peralta is proud of the impact he has made with his work and advocacy, he admits there is still a long way to go to eliminate the stigma of having disabilities in the professional world. In his opinion, the best way to change that is to simply do — a valuable piece of advice for all.

“Start believing in your work. Whether you have a disability or not, just get started. Design it, build it, share it. And the more people you share it with, the more feedback you can get, and the more you can improve on your work and get closer to your dreams.”

To learn more about Ryan Hudson-Peralta follow him on Instagram or subscribe to his YouTube channel.