‘I want him to see that he’s not alone.’
An Abbotsford family has made it their mission to educate the public on a disability that might not get the notoriety or support that you might see with other disorders.
Yessica and Bobby Aguilera are heading up a walk to help people realize there are faces behind those with a speech impediment or with stuttering disorder. The walk will begin at Red Arrow Park in Abbotsford at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 21 with registration beginning at 8:30. Participants can park in the middle school/high school parking lot.
The event is personal to the Aguileras as their 9-year-old son Ayden has been dealing with a stuttering disability since he was four years old. Yessica said Ayden has been getting support from his own friend group who knows him and accepts him but guards himself against others who might not know him as well.
“My motivation for starting this has been Ayden,” Yessica said. “Although he has his group of friends that already know him, there is the rest of the world who doesn’t know him. He sometimes feels out of place or that he should hold back because he doesn’t know their reaction.”
Participants will walk to the Abbotsford Library where Abbotsford District Administrator Ryan Bargender will be giving a short speech along with Yessica and a teacher that has had an impact on Ayden while at school.
Yessica said Ayden’s speech therapist at school was talking to Ayden about his disorder when they thought of the idea of walking to raise awareness for the cause.
“His main concern was, ‘How can more people know that it’s OK that I stutter? How can I talk to new people and let them know that yes I stutter but it’s OK and they can continue to talk to me?’” Yessica said.
Mayo Clinic describes stuttering as “a speech disorder that involves frequent and significant problems with normal fluency and flow of speech. People who stutter know what they want to say, but have difficulty saying it.”
Ayden has told his parents that he feels others look at him differently because of his disorder but he wants people to know that he is a smart kid who knows what he wants to say but can’t always commu- nicate it effectively. The event aims to explain to people that those with a speech impediment or stuttering disability are people with the same interests as others. Ayden loves to play football and baseball and even said he wants to try out to play quarterback for his CUDA football team next year. He also likes reading and hanging out with his friends. His favorite subject in school is math.
Yessica said the support for the cause has been overwhelming. She said she has had numerous people reach out asking what they can do to help and being a part of a small community, she was elated to see the shares, messages and willingness to help from those on social media and around her.
“Social media can be so powerful and when I started seeing all the shares and all the comments and Bobby started seeing that too, we were blown away by the response,” Yessica said.
Along with family and friends who have helped organize and fund the event, Yessica said a core group of businesses have contributed time, money and materials to making the event a success. Those businesses include: AbbyBank, Jack’s Cantina, WAOW News Channel 9, Interior Cleaning Specialists, Antojitos Mi Tierra, Hardee’s in Colby, Strek-O Doors and Cruz’s Landscaping & Excavating. The event will have raffle prizes and is free to the public in large part thanks to the event’s sponsors. Abbotsford high schoolers will be helping to man the raffle booths.
“I can’t say it enough, how much gratitude I have toward the community and those helping,” Yessica said.
Yessica’s hope for the event is to have those affected and unaffected by the disorder show up and show support for those in the community dealing with the disorder.
“This is just a small step but maybe the rest of the community or the town can know what he’s going through,” Yessica said. “I want him to see that he’s not alone.”
