"I like to climb but I don't know how high I am", explains to

20 Minutes

Souleymen, almost 8 years old and blind since childhood.

We have an answer for him: high, very high in the hearts of Internet users, to read the benevolent or curious comments left on his mother's Tik Tok page, or even the thousands of views counted by the small videos of his daily life. of a handicapped child that she posts with the wind.

Some of them have even passed the two million views and all accumulate hundreds of thousands.

The recipe for this success ?

Probably the spontaneity, the simplicity and the pedagogy of the small scenes of life filmed by his mother Yamina.

If, originally, the Tik Tok page spoke of the passion for motorcycles and quads of this mother of just 27 years old, it was finally a short video of Souleymen which lit up the web last September.

And give the idea to the little family, his dad and his little sister, to show that, despite the handicap of a child, the days can be bright.

“At the start of the school year, we wanted to make a little “prevention” video for dog owners, explains the young woman, so that they pick up their animal’s droppings and remind them that there are some who are blind. .

It's already difficult when you can see well, so imagine for the blind”.

A video, especially a box, seen more than two million times.

“People liked it and shared it.

So we decided to continue, at our own pace and when we have ideas, ”continues Yamina.

As a “team” with his son, they decide on the subject, “spontaneously, according to the situation that arises on a daily basis”, without programming.

Souleymen plays football (blind-foot), Souleymen writes and reads in Braille, Souleymen climbs, uses his touch pad, does his homework, prepares a meal, recognizes banknotes... The list of activities practiced by "Sousou", his little nickname, is long and varied, as for all children.

If her disability requires special and time-consuming attention from the small family, Yamina indeed had to let go of her job a few years ago to devote herself to her children, she is now, officially, a content creator.

She can thus see some of her videos being the subject of partnerships or remuneration.

But the idea is "far from wanting to possibly earn money with Souleymen's videos", underlines the young woman.

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"We don't talk about his disability every day," explains the mother.

But sometimes, his inability to do certain things brings him back to reality and there, it's harder, there are still reminders, ”says the mother.

A difficult reality at times but which Souleymen brilliantly surpasses who does not hesitate, with his child's words, to explain his situation, even if sometimes the questions may seem cruel.

But the meaning of these videos is also to inform and convey a message.

“When he was little, there were no answers to our questions.

We wanted to know how it was going to evolve, happen... So with these videos, we manage to answer the questions of people who encounter the same situation, it gives them strength,

knowing what unsuspected activities they could have… Others to simply talk about the handicap, its management.

A lot of people contact me and we continue with some to call each other, to exchange, ”says Yamina.

Blind, Souleymen can still perceive lights through his right eye, thus distinguishing between day and night.

Also, fond of fashion accessories, he likes beautiful clothes and “he knows what suits him”, smiles his mother.

He sometimes puts on designer glasses, with lenses that tint in the sun.

Useful, as it is light sensitive.

Glasses also "to have the class" and which protects him from a possible involuntary nudge at school.

Student in CE1 in a private establishment in Mulhouse, the little boy recognizes, moreover, since the broadcast of his videos, a certain small recognition with friends.

If he has to pay particular attention to his eyes, it is because he has already had to undergo around thirty operations and his left eye had to be replaced by a prosthesis,

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A situation he talks about frankly, from the height of his almost 8 years and with great maturity in his videos, arousing respect to see the glowing comments left against him on Tik Tok.

"Making these videos, some with touches of humor, gave him confidence," says Yamina.

Confidence, but also the feeling of being useful by taking a positive look at disability.

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  • Mulhouse

  • Great East

  • Blind

  • TikTok

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