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Tuesday, November 10, 2026Nov 10

Battling autism at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

photo Rebecca Sadowitz reads a copy of The Echo, UTC’s student newspaper, in Frist Hall on Thursday afternoon.
photo Cody Barnes leafs through a textbook as he looks for his next math problems Thursday afternoon. Barnes, a second-year civil engineering major at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, worked on calculus homework in the lounge of the Frist Building on campus Thursday afternoon. Barnes is autistic.

Silent auction* What: Silent auction to benefit MoSAIC, a college transition program designed for individuals on the autism spectrum* When: Nov. 15, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.* Where: UC Gallery on the first floor of the University Center at UTCInformation: www.utc.edu/Administration/DisabilityResourceCenter

Rebecca Sadowitz needed extra time on tests.

The 20-year-old Sadowitz has a mild form of Asperger’s syndrome, so mild that she had people tell her she outgrew her autism. But she didn’t. On tests, she would get easily flustered. She had difficulty skipping hard questions or guessing.

“Just let me finish this one question before I move on,” she would tell herself.

But in college, it became harder for her to formulate her thoughts. Last year, after “completely bombing” a test during her first semester at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she is a biology major, Sadowitz broke down.