It is the same for any trade. Be it design, programming and anything else. None of us were born with it.

Designers had to study design, read books and then practice this thousand times before we are any good. I am sure even if I read programming books and learn how to code that is just the first step. I will have to program for atleast 10,000 hours before I am really good.

Few people are able to reduce that 10,000 hours stretch to 1000 hours but that period of intense practice will and always remain.

If a designer feels a new person cannot learn to design they are wrong. If they feel they cannot be a good designer, they are right for the next 10,000 hours.