For a student on the autism spectrum, the simple act of grabbing coffee at Starbucks can be a stress-inducing activity. To an individual with autism, every audible sound – music, the scrape of a chair, the buzz of others’ conversations – is heard just as prominently as the voice of a person sitting right across from them.

The struggle of individuals with autism to focus and push out distracting stimuli is just one of the issues, a senior majoring in music therapy, Allison Lockhart hopes to raise awareness for through starting The University of Alabama’s new chapter of Autism Speaks U.

“We want to spread awareness throughout the Tuscaloosa community, beyond the University but to all individuals,” Lockhart said. “[Autism] is being diagnosed more and more, but there’s little funding available for it, and we want to make this known to the community.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurological disorder that affects 1 in 88 individuals. Autism is characterized by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors. The disorder is defined by a “spectrum” due to the wide variety of symptoms and characteristics that appear and range from mild to severe.

Lockhart said her younger cousin who has autism inspired her to start the Autism Speaks U chapter at the University. Her passion for teaching him new words and how to become more independent led to her involvement with Autism Speaks, a national autism awareness organization, in her south Floridian hometown.

“I wanted him to be able to not have to live with my uncle or aunt for the rest of his life,” Lockhart said. “I wanted him to get out there.”

Lockhart said once she moved to Tuscaloosa she wanted a way to stay connected to the autism community and continue giving back. She said it has been difficult to get the chapter started due to the demanding process of getting the chapter recognized by both the national Autism Speaks organization and the University.

The chapter will spend next semester working to achieve both the recruitment and fundraising goal that will allow it to be recognized officially as a national chapter. Lockhart said after having only two meetings, the group has about 30 members, but students are still enrolling.

“I get an email almost every day with someone new saying they couldn’t go before, but they want to start getting involved,” Lockhart said.

Sarah Ryan, licensed psychologist and director of autism services at the University, said the fundraising Autism Speaks U does is important to provide services for families affected by autism. Ryan runs the UA-ACTS mentoring program that pairs psychology graduate student members with autistic UA students. Through this program, students with autism can gain many of the organizational and social skills necessary for collegiate life.

“Students with autism here at UA or in college in general struggle with a lot of organization,” Ryan said. “It’s hard navigating the multiple types of social relationships, sort of the unwritten role of social interaction that are unique to college that maybe they’ve never experienced before.”

She said often individuals with autism are written off as being incapable of bonding or being affectionate. Ryan said she hopes through information provided to the public by Autism Speaks U and help for autistic students through UA-ACTS, some of these common misconceptions will be dispelled.

“A lot of times parents hear autism and people just assume they’re never going to go to college, they’re never going to do what other kids to do and that’s not necessarily the case,” Ryan said. “We have 20 college students in the program and far more on campus that prove them wrong.”

Autism Speaks U will be at the Tuscaloosa River Market every Saturday starting on Nov. 16 selling puzzle piece ornaments, wreaths and hot chocolate to raise money for autism research. The group also plans to launch a “soaps for hope” campaign.

For its large fundraiser, the University’s chapter of Autism Speaks U will be hosting a “capture the puzzle piece” event on Nov. 17, where teams will pay a small fee to participate in a capture the flag tournament.

Lockhart said she is fully committed to helping put the puzzle pieces together that make up autism, and Autism Speaks U is just another step she is taking to get there.

“It’s become my work and then the schoolwork has become free time,” Lockhart said. “But it’s worth it.”