April is Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month: Sharing our stories

April is Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month: Sharing our stories

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This story is part of our CSC 360 package for April 2023, to view more stories, click here.

April is Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month: Sharing our stories

by Allison Hogue – Sacred Heart University, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant
and A.J. O'Hagan – Yeshiva University, Sports Information Director

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that about 1 in 44 children has been identified with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and more than 2% of adults in the U.S. are estimated to have ASD. Hear from two of those adults with ASD – CSC members Allison Hogue and A.J. O’Hagan as Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month is underway this April. It is a time dedicated to raising awareness, understanding, and acceptance for individuals on the autism spectrum.

April is Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month. And there are at least two individuals in the profession that are on the spectrum. We are those two individuals.
 
For the last three years, we — A.J. O’Hagan and Allison Hogue — have been the proud co-captains of Team Autism Awareness and Acceptance in the College Sports Communicators fitness challenges.
 
What we both have in common is that we are on the autism spectrum. And, we are friends. And, we are hopefully making a difference in the athletics communications profession.
 
A.J. is the sports information director at Yeshiva University. He was recognized for his work when he earned the CSC Rising Star Award in 2021 for the college division.
 
A.J. was diagnosed with autism at the age of two. His younger brother Nicky and goddaughter Natalie are also on the spectrum. In 2009, while a sophomore at Utica College (now Utica University), O’Hagan and a group of friends founded the Autism Awareness Club. They held lectures about autism and hosted guest speakers, fundraising events and movie nights.
 
The Autism Awareness Club also competed in intramural sports. The group made up a team called Team Autism Awareness and Acceptance and played a variety of sports. One of them was wiffle ball, where they won the championship in a walk-off extra-inning thriller!
 
“It was an amazing experience,” A.J. recalled.
 
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Members of Team Autism Awareness and Acceptance running in the #CoSIDA22 5K — Jeff Bernstein, Allison Hogue, A.J. O'Hagan and Danny Kambel.

 
While a student at Utica, he served as an intern for the sports information department and as video coordinator for the men’s hockey team. He would go on to work in both roles while earning his master’s degree at Manhattanville College (2011-2013).
 
In August of 2013 he was hired as assistant sports information director at Lehman College and held that position until 2015 when he accepted the job at Yeshiva. Yeshiva is a NCAA Division III institution, located in New York City, and a member of the Skyline Conference.
 
“It’s been an incredible run,” O’Hagan said. “I was mentored by (former SID) Chris Gonzales for my first two years at Lehman, and then by Lenn Margolis after Chris earned another job opportunity. I thank them both for helping me get to where I am today. They are two big reasons why I am in a great position at Yeshiva. These past seven years at YU have been incredible. Not just because of the success earned by our Maccabees’ athletic programs, but because of the great people I get to work with.”
 
Hogue is the athletic communications graduate assistant at Sacred Heart University, an NCAA Division I school in Fairfield, Connecticut, and a Northeast Conference member. Earlier this academic year, she was recognized for her good work by being selected for the inaugural CSC 30 Under 30 class.
 
She was four years old when she received her autism diagnosis. She spent her early school years in special education classes. In middle school, Allison’s parents sent her to a private school for individuals with learning differences.
 
“I knew I had autism because my parents told me and I was afraid to share because I thought kids would make fun of me for being different,” Allison says. “My younger years were really tough. I struggled a lot not only academically but also socially and there were moments when I didn’t like being pulled out of my regular classroom for special sessions.”
 
At her special ed school, Hogue got better over time in those skills. She later transferred to a high school with a rigorous curriculum and remained there until she graduated in 2015.
 
Hogue went to college at Liberty University where she discovered sports information as a student worker. By the time she was a senior, she realized that this was the career path she wanted to pursue.
 
After graduating from Liberty in 2019, she held internships at the University of Florida, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and Coker University.
 
Hogue ultimately landed at Sacred Heart in August 2021.
 
“I grew up loving sports all my life and played a lot as a kid,” Allison said. “I never thought of athletics being my whole career, especially working in it.”
 
O’Hagan and Hogue first met at virtual CSC events on zoom during the pandemic.
 
“At the time I was a ‘free agent’ and moved back home during the shutdown,” said Hogue. “I saw CSC (formerly CoSIDA) was hosting virtual hangouts and I decided to join in and make connections. I remember seeing A.J. for the first time on Zoom. Fast forward, I came across his Twitter page and saw that he was autistic, and I was shocked.”
 
A few weeks later Hogue called O’Hagan. She informed him that she was autistic as well. And just like the beginning of a friendship and partnership was formed.
 
“I was amazed,” said A.J. “It’s always great meeting someone on the spectrum.”
 
At the time, the CSC Fitness Challenge was planned for 2020 in a virtual format. O’Hagan decided to revive Team Autism Awareness and Acceptance, which competed in the CSC 5k/2-mile walk at the 2019 convention in Orlando. The team ended up earning the team championship.
 
A.J. messaged Allison and asked if she would like to be co-captain with him in the next round. She immediately accepted the offer.
 
“I was coming off my first fitness challenge earlier in the summer with another team,” said Hogue. “My first thought was the impact A.J. and I could make regarding autism — not only in our profession but in our society — and I couldn’t say no to that.”
 
“When Allison agreed to be our co-captain, I was so excited,” A.J. recalled. “It really gave me a lift, especially during a time where she, myself, and a lot of people were going through a very rough time due to the pandemic and shutdown.”
 
The two recruited athletic communications friends and competed in the 2020 challenge. As a team, they came in first place in several weekly rankings.
 
During the Spring 2021 challenge, Team Autism Awareness and Acceptance earned first place for having the most members participating in the 5k and two-mile walk virtual challenge. The team finished second overall.
 
In June of 2022, Team Autism Awareness and Acceptance ran and walked together at the in-person 5k run and two-mile walk event in Las Vegas. 

This past October, O’Hagan and Hogue worked with Samantha Luce (who O’Hagan went to college with at Utica) who works at The Select Group, an IT consulting company in Raleigh, North Carolina. On October 27, Hogue and O’Hagan did a virtual presentation with Luce and her colleagues called “Support without Stigma in the Workplace” in front of a live audience. They explained what it was like growing up with autism and their experiences in the workplace.

“It was a great session,” A.J. recalled. “It was awesome working with Samantha again on an autism awareness and acceptance-related mission, just like we did in college.”
 
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To bring more awareness to the CSC community about autism, O’Hagan and Hogue also created a Facebook page where they provide updates happening within the team.
 
And, during the summer of 2021, O’Hagan and Hogue helped form a committee within the CSC Goodwill and Wellness Committee that is dedicated to advocating for individuals with disabilities and mental health struggles.
 
“Allison and myself, we have our ups and downs mentally,” A.J. noted. “We obviously aren’t alone. So many people struggle with their mental health and we wanted to help people who sometimes struggle like us.”
 
The sub-committee has held virtual panels with panelists who struggled with depression, anxiety, fighting cancer, etc. And, raising awareness and understandig about disabilities also plays a key role in the committee.
 
“I feel like individuals with neurological disabilities, people who are neurodivergent, they have their struggles that many might not understand,” O’Hagan said. “We get stereotyped a lot. We try to fight against that. I feel like the neurodivergent/disability population does not get represented well enough when it comes to diversity issues. We want to educate people about us and let them understand that we are part of the diversity too.”
 
“I think spreading awareness about mental health and disabilities is very important in our profession,” Allison noted. “We’ve seen a lot of people leave the profession because of burnout. Some of that, and I have also experienced this before, is because some athletic departments might not be prioritizing mental health needs or assisting those who are struggling with a disability. We want our committee to help in advocacy efforts for all who work in college athletics.”
 
As you can see, as the nation highlights Autism Awareness and Acceptance month this April, O’Hagan and Hogue are not only advocates for those on the spectrum, but are advocates for our profession. Their hope is for their advocacy to go a long way for years to come.
 

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