He would have been born during WW II. I think that was pre-thalidomide. I'm pretty sure he said polio did it.
But it's been a few miles since then and now.
Thalidomide was first marketed in 1957. I was born in 1956. The person you referenced would have been 18+ in 1960, thus born before the drug was marketed. I saw a few people affected because they were close to my age and in school at the same time.