Girl born without hands wins national handwriting competition

Parents and educators have been worrying about the “dying art” of handwriting for years, as smartphones and laptops have led some classrooms to spend less and less time on teaching the fine art of writing in cursive.

Sara Hinesley

Sara Hinesley, a third-grade student in Frederick, Md., though, finds writing cursive “kind of easy”, using her cursive skills
to win a national handwriting competition. It’s an impressive feat made
even more impressive due to the fact that the 10-year old was born
without hands.

Hinesley, who writes by holding her pencil between the ends of her
arms, was trained in the fine art of penmanship by her teacher and
quickly learned to love writing. “She can do just about anything —
oftentimes better than me or my husband,” her mother, Cathryn Hinesley, told CNN.

Hinesley entered the 2019 Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest,
and the judges were so impressed with her perfect penmanship that she
won the Nicholas Maxim Award, which is given to an entrant with a
physical, developmental, or intellectual disability. The award comes
with a trophy and $500 in prize money as well as $500 in educational
materials for her school.

While Hinesley reportedly hasn’t decided what she wants to do with
her $500 in prize money, she does hope to inspire other children “who
have challenges,” reminding them that in her experience, “if you try
your hardest you can do it.”