Damn right he is.
A young boy born with only one arm has a message for the grown adults who stare at him, take pictures of him and call him “weird”: regardless of their behaviour, he knows he’s awesome.
Four-year-old Callum Sweeney, from Glasgow, was born missing his right arm from just below the shoulder down.
Mum Bianca-Louise Little said she first found out about his missing limb during her 12 week scan in 2017.
And while his disability “doesn’t affect him majorly”, her son has been subjected to some shocking behaviour in response to it – mostly from adults.
“Callum’s disability doesn’t affect him majorly – it’s different that he was born the way he is, rather than having his arm and losing it,” Bianca-Louise told Glasgow Live.
“We don’t see him as disabled, but differently-abled, and he finds a way to do everything. It’s people who stare at him and make comments.”
The mum explained that Callum gets a lot of stares when the family is out and about, and while kids are naturally inquisitive, they’re quick to move own once their curiosity is satisfied.
“Loads of kids will ask Callum questions about it, like when Callum is playing at the park, they’ll ask things like ‘did a shark eat your arm?’ He answers and it goes over their head, it’s explained, they move on,” she said.
Adults, on the other hand, haven’t been quite as pleasant.
“We were walking to nursery one morning and a grown man in the park called him weird… It’s more adults that we have to worry about.
“Once we were in a shopping centre and there was a wee boy who wanted to ask his mum what happened to Callum, but his mum pulled him away and wouldn’t let him.”
Bianca-Louise added that another time when the family was getting the train, security guards pulled her aside to tell her that a man was taking pictures of Callum.
“He was pulled aside and told to delete them. His explanation was that he had never seen a person like that before and wanted to show his partner,” she said.
One day the mum filmed a clip of Callum responding to this type of behaviour in the hopes that it will encourage change in the way people react to or speak about disabilities.
“I am not strange, I am awesome,” he proudly states in the video, which made its way to Loose Women this week.
That you are, Callum, and don’t let anyone tell you different.
