Across the world, there are more than one billion people living with a disability. In some countries, disabled children are treated like “freaks,” denied the opportunity to go to school, perish in filthy institutions and some are severely abused.
Rustam is one of these children, who because of several diseases that altered his appearance, was abandoned by his biological parents as a baby.
In fact, despite Rustam protesting, she taught him how to walk, demanding her son move around the apartment on his crutches.
“Rus protested, cried, demanded to be carried…showed [his] character. But then he got down to business and very quickly walked at speed,” she said.‘Such a freak’
Since Rustam joined the family, Nika is raising awareness, championing the rights and dignities of disabled people.
But people still take the opportunity to attack the young boy, some calling him a freak.
“One woman wrote to me: ‘let’s call things by their words, freak…’” Nika recalls of one message. “Or they often write: ‘How did you decide to do this, we would not be able to live next to such a freak.’”
To those comments, Nika lovingly responds, “I don’t know, maybe someone wants to always look at the beautiful. It’s more important to me that Rustam has the whole world inside.”
Though she’s learned to be thick-skinned, Nika admits the attacks can be hurtful. “[People] like to put up labels…If you don’t look like everyone else. A lot of evil, a lot.”
Despite cruel comments, Rustam’s mom and dad are supporting their son, making sure he knows “that everything was fine with him: two eyes, a nose, a mouth. Soon there will be two legs. He sees, hears, speaks.”
And the boy, who’s now about 10, is relying on his “brightness and courage,” styling his hair – perky ponytails and dreadlocks – and wearing bold clothing to express his colorful personality.
“Rus thinks very broadly and open-mindedly, sometimes making paradoxical conclusions. So, it was easy for me to persuade him to experiment boldly,” Nika says of her son. “Rustam doesn’t ask questions about his appearance at all. He repeats with pleasure that his whole family is beautiful, and he is so handsome in general.”
Unfortunately, Nika’s Instagram has since been deleted so we can no longer follow Rustam’s wild dance moves and awesome hair.
She previously said, “If my account should suddenly be blocked then I’ll probably feel better because I won’t see dozens of haters commenting about my son.”
It’s so sad that people have to say such cruel things to a beautiful couple who gave the world to a helpless little boy.
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