Imagine starting middle school and sharing with everybody that you have a condition that makes you different from the others. Well that’s exactly what 11-year-old Oscar Clitheroe did when he started Hove Park school in England back in September.
Taking to the stage, the 6th grader showed a video explaining why “It’s all right to be different.” Although Oscar’s dad stands tall at 6 ft 1, Oscar is not expected to reach more than 5 ft 4 — and that’s after taking growth hormones. The brave schoolboy decided to stand up during assembly and express why he’s so diminutive after other kids questioned his height during a summer camp.
Oscar is himself unique, as one of only three people in the world to suffer from Ring 5 Chromosome, and the youngster has to inject himself with hormones every day. Naturally the majority of people aren’t aware of this condition, but Oscar wanted to use school to educate his classmates, giving them a lesson in both positivity and genetics.
Luckily for Oscar, his mom works in television and was able to enlist the help of celebrities, including Warwick Davis, who starred in Star Wars and Harry Potter, to help get his message across.
“One of the things I have learned in life is to never let my size hold me back. And it’s actually quite cool to be different, just like Oscar,” Davis the Hollywood actor, who is 3 ft 6, says in the video below, which highlights how we are all indeed different, that we all have something to offer — and it’s something to celebrate!
It’s a worthwhile project not just for Oscar’s classmates, but for anyone who watches it. By learning about other people’s experiences we grow in knowledge and compassion, which can help us embrace each other with kindness.
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Video: Being Different is Normal
And today we celebrate...