being at the center doesn’t make him the center of attention, but setting him off to the side sure draws unwanted attention.
Do you know how the child feels? We know how his mother feels. She vented to the press and how SHE views him will shape how he sees himself.
I don't know if you saw my post 90: My MiL had polio at 3 years of age. That was in 1916. She had one malformed arm and a shorter leg for the rest of her life. She led a normal life and had numerous surgeries as technology advanced in order to help her leg but her right arm was always shriveled. She became a school teacher and had 3 children. She told me that when she was 5 she came in complaining that her siblings were pelting her with snowballs. She was told to throw some back. She did.
Let me elaborate. How my Mother in Laws parents viewed her was the basis for her view of herself. They were told in 1916 that she would never walk again. They NEVER said that to her. By the time she was 5 she was walking again. Haltingly but walking. When her siblings teased her or threw sonwballs at her she was told to defend herself. They did NOT view her with pity. They allowed her to discover what she could and could not do. They saw her as a child.
When others pitied her it HURT. I should add that sometimes she had to use a wheelchair. There were days that her left leg just would not hold her up.