{"id":49887,"date":"2023-04-18T07:32:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T11:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=49887"},"modified":"2023-08-11T08:18:44","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T12:18:44","slug":"carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Carrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"UTC

UTC freshman Ella Dunkelberger, left, attended the Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk with her mom, Becky; her sister, Isabelle; and her sister\u2019s boyfriend, Philip Forester. Photo by Bethany Cothran.<\/p><\/div>\n

Over 1,000 people came together at Coolidge Park Saturday, April 15, to celebrate the 10th<\/sup> annual Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk.<\/p>\n

The Chattanooga Autism Center organized the event, its largest walk in support of autistic people and their stories. As part of the festivities, vendors set up booths and companies, schools and families formed teams.<\/p>\n

One of the walk\u2019s participants was University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman psychology major Ella Dunkelberger, who grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee, playing soccer, riding bikes and enjoying the outdoors.<\/p>\n

Like most kids, Dunkelberger wanted to fit in. For her, fitting in wasn\u2019t just a part of being human, but learning to accept living with autism spectrum disorder.<\/p>\n

Diagnosed at age three, Dunkelberger said, \u201cI was scared to advocate for myself.\u201d However, in eighth grade, after reading an article about autism by Beth Hiatt, she started to see autism in a more positive light.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that (reflecting on the article), I thought there\u2019s nothing really to be ashamed about,\u201d Dunkelberger said. \u201cJust because my brain doesn\u2019t function in the norm of society, that doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s embarrassing or shameful; that\u2019s just how I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

April is recognized nationwide as Autism Awareness Month, also known as Autism Acceptance Month\u2014the preferred term according to students in UTC\u2019s Mosaic program.<\/p>\n

Mosaic, created in 2008, is a comprehensive program developed to support the needs of degree-seeking UTC students on the autism spectrum.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re accepting people, that\u2019s an action to do that,\u201d Dunkelberger said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s really important that we start doing acceptance because that\u2019s the action we\u2019re taking to acknowledge and learn more about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Dunkelberger, autism is \u201ca neurological disorder that basically means a spectrum, so everyone on the spectrum struggles in different ways and we also thrive in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

She compared autism to riding a rollercoaster, with each twist and turn quick and unpredictable. With sensory overload playing a significant role in autism, she described it as carrying bricks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like having 10,000 bricks on your head at once with sensory overload,\u201d Dunkelberger said. \u201cNot many people understand that when you have 10,000 bricks, it\u2019s really heavy\u2014so your brain is getting overwhelmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Dunkelberger still struggles with sensory overload, she explained it was much harder growing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would try not to make a scene because I didn\u2019t want people staring at me,\u201d she said, \u201cbut in society, that\u2019s how it works. We stare at things that may be odd.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Dunkelberger, one of the biggest misconceptions about autistic people is the idea that they don\u2019t have empathy for others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe care so deeply for people,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe we show it differently than others, but I think we have a heart and we try to show that to others, but I think people kind of get that misconception that we don\u2019t have any feelings and that we\u2019re robots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Embracing her individuality, Dunkelberger is always encouraged to be herself in the Mosaic program. She said the staff provides support and resources for autistic students, encouraging and helping them succeed in college.<\/p>\n

Dunkelberger referred to the staff as superheroes, always showing up for students when they need support.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just go above and beyond. They really care for every single student, which I think is incredible,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are in a program with all sides of the spectrum, so they know how to\u2026have conversations and be able to help us when we need. They\u2019re such different people, but they\u2019re able to do it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leading the UTC Au-some Mocs team, the Mosaic program participated in the Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk.<\/p>\n

Visiting booths with sensory toys and information on autism, Dunkelberger and other Mosaic students celebrated the day and month all about them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important that inclusion is made, not just with autism but with every disability,\u201d Dunkelberger said. \u201cI think we should include and educate others about autism and other disabilities as well so that everyone can have a good sense of the world and know that not everyone is the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo gallery by Bethany Cothran<\/h4>\n

\"Team
\nTeam UTC Au-Some Mocs<\/p>\n

\"10\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"1\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"2\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"3\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"4\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"7\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"5\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"6\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"8\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"9\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over 1,000 people came together at Coolidge Park Saturday, April 15, to celebrate the 10th annual Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk. One of the walk\u2019s participants was University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman psychology major Ella Dunkelberger, who grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee, playing soccer, riding bikes and enjoying the outdoors.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1493,"featured_media":49890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10232,61,286],"tags":[122658,122657,123085,122655,122656,122654,48062,122659],"class_list":{"0":"post-49887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-college-of-arts-sciences","8":"category-disability-resource-center","9":"category-psychology","10":"tag-autism-acceptance-month","11":"tag-autism-awareness-month","12":"tag-bethany-cothran","13":"tag-chattanooga-autism-celebration-walk","14":"tag-chattanooga-autism-center","15":"tag-ella-dunkelberger","16":"tag-mosaic","17":"tag-utc-au-some-mocs","18":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nCarrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Over 1,000 people came together at Coolidge Park Saturday, April 15, to celebrate the 10th annual Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk. One of the walk\u2019s participants was University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman psychology major Ella Dunkelberger, who grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee, playing soccer, riding bikes and enjoying the outdoors.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Carrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over 1,000 people came together at Coolidge Park Saturday, April 15, to celebrate the 10th annual Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk. One of the walk\u2019s participants was University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman psychology major Ella Dunkelberger, who grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee, playing soccer, riding bikes and enjoying the outdoors.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UTChattanooga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-18T11:32:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-11T12:18:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chuck Wasserstrom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UTChattanooga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UTChattanooga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bethany Cothran\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chuck Wasserstrom\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba12ddef664be78c31809fda10eae4e5\"},\"headline\":\"Carrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-18T11:32:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-11T12:18:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":751,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Autism Acceptance Month\",\"Autism Awareness Month\",\"Bethany Cothran\",\"Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk\",\"Chattanooga Autism Center\",\"Ella Dunkelberger\",\"Mosaic\",\"UTC Au-some Mocs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"College of Arts and Sciences\",\"Disability Resource Center\",\"Psychology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/\",\"name\":\"Carrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-18T11:32:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-11T12:18:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba12ddef664be78c31809fda10eae4e5\"},\"description\":\"Over 1,000 people came together at Coolidge Park Saturday, April 15, to celebrate the 10th annual Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk. One of the walk\u2019s participants was University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman psychology major Ella Dunkelberger, who grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee, playing soccer, riding bikes and enjoying the outdoors.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/files\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":854},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Carrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025\",\"description\":\"Official news releases of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogarchive.utc.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba12ddef664be78c31809fda10eae4e5\",\"name\":\"Chuck Wasserstrom\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/adff2964e628ba03f65fe21e0b0b94ca0667bdce5def0433d41884758501f284?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/adff2964e628ba03f65fe21e0b0b94ca0667bdce5def0433d41884758501f284?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/adff2964e628ba03f65fe21e0b0b94ca0667bdce5def0433d41884758501f284?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chuck Wasserstrom\"},\"description\":\"Chuck Wasserstrom is the director of communications in the UTC Division of Communications and Marketing.\",\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Carrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025","description":"Over 1,000 people came together at Coolidge Park Saturday, April 15, to celebrate the 10th annual Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk. One of the walk\u2019s participants was University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman psychology major Ella Dunkelberger, who grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee, playing soccer, riding bikes and enjoying the outdoors.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Carrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025","og_description":"Over 1,000 people came together at Coolidge Park Saturday, April 15, to celebrate the 10th annual Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk. One of the walk\u2019s participants was University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman psychology major Ella Dunkelberger, who grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee, playing soccer, riding bikes and enjoying the outdoors.","og_url":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/","og_site_name":"UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UTChattanooga","article_published_time":"2023-04-18T11:32:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-11T12:18:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Chuck Wasserstrom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UTChattanooga","twitter_site":"@UTChattanooga","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bethany Cothran","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/"},"author":{"name":"Chuck Wasserstrom","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ba12ddef664be78c31809fda10eae4e5"},"headline":"Carrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month","datePublished":"2023-04-18T11:32:32+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-11T12:18:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/"},"wordCount":751,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg","keywords":["Autism Acceptance Month","Autism Awareness Month","Bethany Cothran","Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk","Chattanooga Autism Center","Ella Dunkelberger","Mosaic","UTC Au-some Mocs"],"articleSection":["College of Arts and Sciences","Disability Resource Center","Psychology"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/","url":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/","name":"Carrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-18T11:32:32+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-11T12:18:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ba12ddef664be78c31809fda10eae4e5"},"description":"Over 1,000 people came together at Coolidge Park Saturday, April 15, to celebrate the 10th annual Chattanooga Autism Celebration Walk. One of the walk\u2019s participants was University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman psychology major Ella Dunkelberger, who grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee, playing soccer, riding bikes and enjoying the outdoors.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg","width":1280,"height":854},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2023\/04\/carrying-the-bricks-celebrating-autism-acceptance-month\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Carrying the bricks: Celebrating Autism Acceptance Month"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/","name":"UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - Oct 2025","description":"Official news releases of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ba12ddef664be78c31809fda10eae4e5","name":"Chuck Wasserstrom","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/adff2964e628ba03f65fe21e0b0b94ca0667bdce5def0433d41884758501f284?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/adff2964e628ba03f65fe21e0b0b94ca0667bdce5def0433d41884758501f284?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/adff2964e628ba03f65fe21e0b0b94ca0667bdce5def0433d41884758501f284?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chuck Wasserstrom"},"description":"Chuck Wasserstrom is the director of communications in the UTC Division of Communications and Marketing.","url":""}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Bethany Cothran","author_link":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/Team-UTC-Au-Some-Mocs.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1493"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49887"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49965,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49887\/revisions\/49965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}