Kennedy: The great history hunt

photo Mark Kennedy

Until last week, I had never heard of "aspies."

Aussies, yes. ESPYs, yes. But aspies, no.

Aspie, I have since learned, is a term for people with Asperger's syndrome.

Asperger's is an autism spectrum disorder that makes it hard to understand the nuances of language and to show emotion. To call oneself an aspie, I'm told, is considered neutral, if not jaunty.

I needed to know this because I had an interview earlier this week with Ryan Lowery, the 30-year-old co-founder of a new group called the Chattanooga Aspie Haunted History Hunters. The group meets monthly to explore history topics with a paranormal twist.

Like a lot of people with Asperger's, Lowery has a hobby - in his case, local history. He can talk nonstop about Chattanooga's past. He'll tell you about newspaper pioneer Adolph Ochs and blues empress Bessie Smith and baseball legend Joe Engel.

"Kids, especially, with Asperger's tend to be hyperfocused on a hobby, or a category of things such as cars or weather," says Dave Buck, director of the nonprofit Chattanooga Autism Center.

If a local history topic has a hint of the occult, well, that appeals to Lowery even more.

He is especially interested in ghost stories involving places such as the Read House and Chickamauga Battlefield.

We were to meet at the Autism Center on McCallie Avenue at 10 a.m. Monday, but Lowery took the wrong CARTA bus and ended up about an hour behind schedule.

At one point, I texted him: "Are you nearby?"

"Yes," he replied.

In the next instant, I saw a tall man in a blue uniform dash by a window. Moments later Lowery burst through the door of the Autism Center.

"I'm here," he said, breathing hard and dripping with perspiration, but otherwise unruffled.

If I had run a mile to an interview, I would have been a mess. Instead, Lowery's voice was calm and modulated. He unbuttoned his blue food-service jacket - he delivers meals at Erlanger medical center - to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with the History Hunters logo, which includes a collage of local historical figures and landmarks.

Lowery is the co-founder of the group along with Donna Wittmann, an Autism Center volunteer who works to help him live independently and to connect with adult friends.

"I asked Ryan one time what his dream job would be," Wittmann recalls, "and he said 'tour guide.'"

So together they set about to make it happen. Every month, Ryan schedules a speaker or a field trip for the History Hunters group. Some times there are a handful of participants - anyone can attend - and other times it's just Lowery and Wittmann. The group has visited Rock City and the Forest Hills cemetery in St. Elmo, for example. This Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Autism Center (1400 McCallie Ave.), the History Hunters will host a presentation by paranormal expert Richard Ruland.

Wittmann, I learned, is a divorced, working mom with four children who still finds time to volunteer at the Autism Center. She has a 15-year-old son who is on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum. Looking back, Wittmann says, she misinterpreted some of her son's early signs of autism when he was a toddler. He was first diagnosed at age 7.

"When he was 10 months old he would crawl and bang his head on the wall," she recalls. "I put a bike helmet on him."

Helping Lowery, she says, helps her feel connected to the tight-knit group of parents who are the driving force behind the Autism Center.

For the last couple of years, Lowery has lived independently at an apartment in Hixson. People close to him say he is thriving. Lowery says he enjoys his freedom and his job distributing meals at Erlanger.

Meanwhile, the Haunted History Hunters has given him what every adult needs - a social outlet.

I told Donna Wittmann that I admire her energy to help a young man make his way, when her career and family demands are so great. She smiled and assured me that she gets more than she gives.

Most of us get frustrated by the unknowns in our lives. Ryan Lowery runs through life's hurdles and focuses on what's important to him.

There's a lesson there for all of us.

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