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Web Reacts to Drummer Who Rocks Out Despite Physical Disability

Web Reacts to Drummer Who Rocks Out Despite Physical Disability

Dean Zimmer is a talented drummer who plays in a band that has opened for the likes of Styx, Kansas, and Thin Lizzy over the years. He was also born with a rare disorder, called Arthrogryposis, that affects the joints. That might make a weaker person give up on a career doing the most physically demanding job in music. But Zimmer rocks. He has been playing for 30 years, and has only gotten better with time.

Other musicians laud his talent. But he knows how skeptical people were at first. A short video, made by Ross Harris and Stanley Gonzales, is called 'Drummer Wanted,' after the ads that Zimmer would respond to for auditions. Whenever he showed up to an audition, he says, people looked at him "like [he] had three heads."

His style is unusual, but it works. Zimmer stresses that his disability does not affect him, saying, "I wasn't disabled: I just couldn't walk real good." His bandmate, Rick Abbott, says of his ability, that when people go to see him, they might be circumspect, but then they see him and think, "oh my god, this guy's amazing."

The whole Internet has exploded with admiring words for the inspiration that Zimmer provides people. One commenter on YouTube wrote, "Dean Zimmer Rocks! What a musician." A user on Twitter wrote, "thanks for teaching us about passion, Dean." A short documentary about Zimmer, entitled "Drummer Wanted," has received more than 400,000 views on YouTube and has been shared countless times on Twitter. Though Zimmer can't walk perfectly, he does march to the beat of his own drum.

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