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Mascot's mask is a shield for man with autism

NORRISTOWN Chris Hall, a mascot who has been featured on the Hulu documentary series Behind the Mask, is returning to the Pathway School this month to talk to students about his journey.

NORRISTOWN Chris Hall, a mascot who has been featured on the Hulu documentary series Behind the Mask, is returning to the Pathway School this month to talk to students about his journey.

Like 80 percent of the Pathway student body, Hall has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Since graduating from Pathway in 2010, he has acted professionally as more than a dozen mascots, including Rudolph, the Easter Bunny, a Rita's water-ice cup, and a dragon.

"I think Chris is drawn to fantasy characters like the dragon because real life is tough for him," his mother, Michaelle Hall, says on the show. For someone with social anxiety, she said, the masks are a way to interact with minimal speaking and eye contact.

Hall, of Cherry Hill, will return to his alma mater April 10 as Wawa's "Wally Goose" and join the students for a cookie-decorating party.

It's one in a series of events for Autism Awareness Month that are "geared around acceptance and self-advocacy," the school said in a news release.

The private school in Norristown serves students from across Southeast Pennsylvania who have varying degrees of autism, neurological impairments, and learning disabilities. - Jessica Parks