Temple Grandin
Doctor Temple Grandin (born 1947) is an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University who has Asperger's syndrome autism. She is also a professional designer of humane livestock
facilities.
Grandin grew up in a time when little was known about autism. At age two, she was diagnosed with "brain damage"; doctors would
not recognize her condition as autism for several years. She was placed in a structured nursery school with what she considers to have been good teachers. She considers herself lucky that she had supporting mentors from primary school onwards.
Based on her own experiences, she advocates early intervention and supporting teachers who can direct fixations of the
autistic child to fruitful directions. She has described her own overt sensitivity to noise and other sensory information, as
well as the need to visualize everything. She regularly takes anti-depressants and uses a squeeze-box (hugging machine) she has made herself.
She became well-known after being described by Oliver Sacks in the title
narrative of his book An Anthropologist On Mars. Grandin has lectured about autism around the world and on many television programs.
Temple Grandin is considered a philosophical leader of both the animal welfare and autism advocacy movements. Both movements
commonly cite her work regarding animal welfare, neurology, and philosophy. Her site has entire sections on how to improve
standards in slaughter plants and farms themselves.
One of her most important essays regarding animal welfare is "Animals are not Things" in which she posits that animals are
technically property in our society but the law ultimately gives them ethical protections or "rights". She uses a "screwdriver"
metaphor by saying a person can legally smash a screwdriver or grind up but a person cannot legally torture an animal. Some
vegans and vegetarians say that if all food animals were treated as well as Grandin says they should be then they would eat milk
or meat again.
Books:
- Emergence: Labeled Autistic (with Margaret Scariano, 1986, updated 1991)
- The Learning Style of People with Autism: An Autobiography
- Thinking in pictures (1996)
External Links:
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