John RossMelanie Koerner Melissa Young Michael PettingillMichele Schavey

The following clip if from HBO film based on Temple Grandin’s life.

Temple Grandin is considered a national hero. she was diagnosed with autism at a very young age in the 1950’s. With this disability she has done more with her life than most people who are “normal”

She was raised in Massachusetts where she would attend public school. She really began taking control of her life when she began attending the Hampshire Country School. A boarding school in southwest New Hampshire. While attending she was quickly taken under the wing of the school science teacher Dr. Carlock who she credits as one of her best influences for good in her life.

After graduating from High School Temple went on to earn a Bachelors, Masters and a Doctorate Degree as well as being largely influential in the handling and processing of cattle by re designing ranches and slaughterhouse and changing process that they animals were treated.

In the mid 1980’s Grandin was discovered at a conference for the Autism Society of America where she would speak to help those who sought to understand autism more. Describing her visual way of thinking she was able to break new ground in autism awareness. Since then she has become a professor at Colorado State University and an accomplished writer with 6 best selling books and constantly travels as the keynote speaker to graduations and conferences.

In 2010 time magazine named her in the top 100 most influential heroes in the world.

-Born August 29, 1947 to Richard and Eustacia Grandin-At age 2 diagnosed with Autism-Began speaking at age 4- considered herself a “nerdy kid” in middle school and high school-Graduated from Hampshire Country School, Rindge, New Hampshire 1969-Earned a Bachelors Degree in psychology from Franklyn Peirce College 1970-Graduated from Arizona State University in 1975 with a Masters in Animal Science-Achieved her first Doctorate also in animal science in 1989 from the University of Illinois.

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Doctor of animal science from university of Illinois

Professor at Colorado state university

Bestselling author of 6 books Time magazine 100 most

influential people “heroes” category

Honorary doctorate of Ontario veterinary college

Honorary doctorate of humane letters form Duke University

Proggy award for the Visionary category

Dr. Grandin explains that when it comes to understanding many concepts she must make a visual correlation to it. One example she gives is money; she says,

“For money to have meaning to me, it must be related to something I can buy with it, otherwise it is too abstract.” (1)

Another struggle for Grandin is high pitch noises she relates this, like other struggle, to how animals react to high pitch sounds. It is somewhat of an alarm in nature and animals respond to these as negative, therefore it is very disturbing.

Finding accurate or exact numbers are also a hard task for Dr. Grandin to tackle. She explains that she mixes numbers up and often must visualize data or numerical differences to grasp the fairly accurate answers

Because Dr. Grandin Thinks in Pictures she must have all of here data in front of her.

She uses her visual thinking skill for designing.

Temple for many years required the use of a invention she created she calls her squeeze box

She invented this in 1965 to in essence stimulate a hug for those who need the stimulation but are afraid of overstimulation that comes with hugging another person.

She now is “in to hugging.”

“I just wanted my kid to be normal.” -Eustacia Cutler

For Temple’s mother Eustacia, It was hard to not blame herself, when Temple developed a disability.

Raising a child with a disability was very stressful, and lots of hard work in understanding Temple and giving her the best things possible.

As a mother, it’s your biggest nightmare because you are just wanting your child to fit in.

You feel lost, when you are trying to connect with Temple. Communication and understanding were very difficult.

Nothing but pure love for Temple is what her mother had. She would go to the ends of the earth to assure Temple was given the proper education and the same experiences as a “normal” kid.

Eustacia Cutler, Temple’s mother is actively involved in sharing her message about Autism.

“I found it difficult to work with others because they would become jealous and sabotage my work. For example, once people broke conveyors with meat hooks on one of my jobs.” -Temple

Some of Temple’s Co-workers were jealous of her success. It was hard for others to really understand her and accept her for being different.

Sometimes Temple would say things that were hurtful or rude to others, and she would be asked to apologize for her behavior. She thanked one of her bosses for making her apologize that day.

There are times when it is hard for people to understand the way that temple communicates, but most of her co-workers are impressed with her strengths and admire her for the work and the good that she has accomplished.

In her work with Autism, Temple has inspired so many with disabilities to conquer their challenges and soar to new heights. Many look up to her and the things she has accomplished in her life. Temple has her own foundation for autism. She continues to work with those that are struggling with the disability themselves, and those that are influenced by people in their life that are struggling with this disability. Most people admire her, and tend to look at her as a role model for people suffering from autism.

What can we learn from people like Temple Grandin?

Temple Grandin is an inspiration to everyone she meets and continues to be a valuable asset to the world. She always encourages people to do there best. This final clip if from her web site www.templegrandin.com as she is able to answer the questions of others.