Temple Grandin : Autism is an Ability, Not a Handicap

article publié sur le site Amy smart girls

Posted by Erica Grossman on December 4, 2015

Temple Grandin didn’t speak until she was 3-and-a-half years old. She was diagnosed with autism in the 1950s, an era with far less understanding of the autism spectrum. In spite of any antiquated expectations of her capabilities (at the time some doctors thought she might need to be institutionalized), Grandin went on to forge her own path, one in which her differences aren’t seen as handicaps, but rather as abilities to better the world.

Today, Dr. Grandin is a professor at Colorado State University, a renowned lecturer on autism, and an animal scientist. Her work has led to major changes in the cattle industry, including more humane processes in the handling of livestock. In 2010, she was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people. An award-winning HBO biopic of Temple Grandin, starring Claire Danes, was released the same year. The video of her TED Talk has more than 3.5 million views.

But getting to this point of influence wasn’t always easy.

“When I started in the cattle industry–and being a woman in a man’s industry in the early ‘70s–that was very difficult,” Grandin tells Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls. “There were people that were bad to me, and that was shown in the [HBO] film. But there also were some good people who helped me; some really good cattle people who owned feed yards, a good construction person who actually sought me out because he could see that I was good at designing things.”

HBO Trailer

Grandin attributes much of her success to her passions and the people who helped support them, like her mother and an elementary school science teacher.

“My mother always pushed me to do new things,” Grandin says. “My ability in art was always encouraged.”

Artistic encouragement helped Grandin to better understand the world. Grandin is a self-described visual thinker. She thinks specifically in series of pictures and, as such, is able to visualize and design in very specific and distinctive ways. That ability is what led to Grandin’s design transformation of the cattle industry. Grandin believes that animals are not “things,” and her writings, lectures and designs reflect a deep understanding of the psychology of animals and the way they see the world. Animals, she notes in her TED Talk, are also visual thinkers.

But she’s quick to point out that the way she thinks is not the way all autistic individuals think. In fact, Grandin strongly believes that the world is filled with all types of different thinkers, whose specific learning styles need to be understood and supported.

“I’m a visual thinker,” Grandin says. “Other kids are going to be mathematical thinkers–they think in patterns. Another kid is going to love words, history, and facts. The world needs all kinds of minds to work together.”

For those wanting to further understand autism and to better promote the gifts of those with autism, Grandin suggests not getting wrapped up in the name.

“The autism spectrum varies from half of Silicon Valley to Einstein, who had no language skills until he was age 3, to Mozart to Steve Jobs to someone who remains severely handicapped and non-verbal and maybe can’t dress themselves,” she says. “And it all has the same name, so don’t get hung up on the labels.”

Rather, she says, expose kids to hands-on learning and activities to find out what interests them. When something piques their interest, allow them to explore it and cultivate skill sets, including those that will help them develop a career. Grandin, who promotes strong involvement in the workforce for those with autism, knows it’s not about what skills someone doesn’t have.

“Build up on the thing that a kid is good at,” she says. “Start thinking: What can this kid do when they grow up? There are lots of people out there in very skilled trades that I know are on the spectrum–good jobs. I went to school with ‘geeks’ and ‘nerds’ who would have been labeled with mild autism today, and some of them own businesses now. So [it’s important] to not let people with autism get a handicapped mentality.”

Smart Girls embrace all abilities. 

Learn more about autism, order books or ask Dr. Grandin a question at the Temple Grandin’s Official Autism Website.

Photo Credit: Rosalie Winard, courtesy Temple Grandin