More than one billion people live with a handicap across the world. In other nations, handicapped children are viewed as “freaks,” are refused the right to attend school, die in filthy facilities, and are violently tortured.

Rustam is one of these children, who was abandoned by his real parents as a newborn due to a number of ailments that affected his looks.

And just as he was set to move into a “disabled house,” the little kid had a big miracle…

There was no mechanism in place to safeguard individuals with impairments before to 2006. The United Nations established an international convention that year, finally safeguarding handicapped individuals and children who had been abandoned, mistreated, or jailed in certain nations.

Rustam was one of the children that was abandoned at the hospital shortly after birth due to his looks.

The cute little youngster was born with “several malformations,” which altered his face and left him without a leg and a portion of a hip. He was fed through a tube for the first two years of his life, and over the next two years, surgeons “literally piece-by-piece by collected his face.”

But no one wanted to adopt or foster Rustam, who was born in Russia and still required multiple treatments to live a healthy life.

Then, in 2017, Nika Zlobin, a kind-hearted woman looking to foster or adopt a kid, came across Rustam’s photo.

“There was a hole instead of a face,” the woman from Moscow recalls seeing his photograph.

After showing interest in the child, she and her husband Yuri were given a list of what Rustam required, which included speech therapy, cosmetic surgery, and a prosthetic leg.
“I read it, I figured – well, everything is solvable,” the woman stated (translated into English). Why don’t we do the same?”

Their initial encounter with the youngster went better than predicted. “When Yuri and I arrived, they brought Rustam to us in the playroom.” “You know, I was ready for a lot, I thought he was in diapers, but when I met him, he seemed like a child prodigy,” Nika says. To be honest, I was stunned.”

Nika and Yuri’s timing was impeccable, as Rustam, who spoke through gestures, was being readied for a transfer to a “house of the disabled.”

“And in a disabled home, he wouldn’t have survived,” Nika added, adding that the trip would have been one-way.

The couple immediately completed the paperwork, loaded Rustam into the car, and transported him to his new home in Moscow.

“I know that many adoptive parents are concerned about their ability to love someone else’s kid as if it were their own. “I didn’t consider it,” Nika said, adding that she is as strict with him as she is with her biological daughter, Iya.
His parents do not treat him any differently and want him to collaborate with them on his therapy.

Despite Rustam’s protests, she trained him to walk by requiring him to roam about the flat on crutches.
“Rus objected, cried, demanded to be carried…displayed [his] character.” But then he got down to business and walked swiftly,” she explained.

‘What a weirdo.’

Nika has been advocating for the rights and dignity of handicapped persons since Rustam joined the family.

However, others continue to abuse the young youngster, labeling him a freak.
“One woman wrote to me: ‘let’s call things by their words, freak…’” Nika recalls one message in particular. “Or they often write: ‘How did you decide to do this, we would not be able to live next to such a freak.’”

Nika says affectionately, “I don’t know, maybe someone wants to always look at the beautiful.” It is more vital to me that Rustam has the entire universe within him.”
Though she’s developed thick skin, Nika says the attacks sometimes be painful. “[People] prefer to stick labels on things…If you don’t resemble everyone else. A lot of evil, a lot of evil.”

Despite the hurtful comments, Rustam’s parents are standing by him, assuring him that “everything was fine with him: two eyes, a nose, a mouth.” There will soon be two legs. He sees, listens, and communicates.”

And the youngster, who is now roughly 10 years old, is depending on his “brightness and courage,” arranging his hair – cheerful ponytails and dreadlocks – and dressing boldly to convey his vibrant personality.

“Rus thinks broadly and openly, reaching sometimes contradictory conclusions.” So it was simple for me to urge him to try new things,” Nika says of her kid. “Rustam never asks inquiries regarding his appearance. He repeated with delight that his entire family is lovely, and that he is really attractive in general.”

Unfortunately, Nika’s Instagram account has already been deleted, so we can no longer keep up with Rustam’s wild dancing movements and amazing hair.

She has claimed in the past, “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 heartbreaking that people can be so harsh to a loving couple who gave the world to a vulnerable little kid.

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