How Understanding Animals Changed the Life of Temple Grandin
Author and expert Temple Grandin suggests ways for people with autism to find their passions
Understanding and appreciating animals was the single most important factor in the success of autism expert Temple Grandin.
Today, known as the most famous person in the world with autism, Grandin tours the United States and abroad, speaking to two distinct groups — families that are dealing with the challenges of autism, and those who handle and care for livestock and other animals.
Part of the 77-year-old Grandin's ongoing research is on the importance of the humane handling of livestock, and several of the 15 books that she authored or co-authored are focused on how animals can help us understand human behavior as yet another way to help the autism and neurodiverse communities.
"As a teenager, I fell in love with horses at the Hampshire Country School in New Hampshire, and I also learned how to work, and fostered my work ethic," Grandin explains. "I took great pride in the fact that I ran my high school's horse barn; cleaning the nine stalls every day. I had friends who I went riding with. Caring for the horses was one of the few places where I felt comfortable and I was not bullied."
This was followed by her time on her aunt's ranch in Arizona, where she found her footing and passion, by caring for animals, and switched her field of study for her master's degree from psychology to animal science.
As a result of her extensive animal research, most of the big cattle processing plants in the U.S. and Canada use a system she developed called the Center Track Restrainer System to improve the cattle handling operations.
In 1999, she trained plant staff and managers at McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's on how to use her scoring system for assessing animal welfare. Currently, half of the cattle in North America are handled and processed in equipment that she has designed. She also continues to visit large beef and pork processing plants to train animal welfare auditors.
As a result of her continued investment in animal welfare, she is updating her textbook "Livestock Handling and Transport," a compilation of research studies that was first published in 1993.
"For a long time, people didn't think that animals had emotions, which I thought was kind of silly."
Grandin is working on the sixth edition, along with co-authors, to include new studies that focus on ways to reduce stress while handling and transporting farm animals, including cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens.
Additional animal-focused books of Grandin's, such as "Animals Make Us Human," published in 2009, include her research on animal emotions. The 2005 book "Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior" is a groundbreaking look at the emotional lives of animals.
"For a long time, people didn't think that animals had emotions, which I thought was kind of silly," she says. "When I first started doing research in the early '90s, I wasn't allowed to use the word 'fear' in my research papers because it would be edited out. … Now we recognize that animals do have emotions. I talk about the major emotional systems that all animals, mammals, and people have, including fear, anger, separation distress, exploration, sex drive, mother young nurturing, and play."
In keeping with her dedication to animal research, Grandin is actively involved in The Temple Grandin Equine Center at Colorado State University. The purpose of the center is to provide physical and emotional help to teens who participate in therapeutic riding programs. "I have seen first-hand how horses help children, teens and adults with autism make friends and learn how to work," she says.
Underestimating Potential
The common link between animals and humans is communication. Grandin said she remembers at age 2 1/2 "the frustration of not being able to communicate," and not wanting to wear a blue corduroy hat her mother insisted she wear to school. So she threw it out of the car window. "A young non-verbal child needs a picture board, sign language or some other way to communicate if speech therapy is initially not getting through to them," she says.
Since 1990, she has been a distinguished professor of animal science at Colorado State University and highly praised for her life's achievements, which include extensive research on autism. Today, according to CDC statistics, an estimated 1 in 36 children have been diagnosed with autism.
Grandin says children, teens and young adults with autism and other special needs must find what they are good at by trying a variety of volunteer and paid positions so that they can reach their potential.
She is deeply concerned when parents and grandparents come up to her after a presentation to complain that they can't get their loved ones with autism away from their screens and out into the work world.
"Too often children and adults with autism are underestimated," Grandin explains. "There are a lot of people through the years who thought I was stupid. So, early on one of my big motivations to succeed was proving that I wasn't. Working on a farm with animals was my conduit to this," ultimately leading to her success as a public speaker, author, educator and scientist.
Another book of Grandin's, "Visual Thinking: Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions," discusses the different types of thinkers. These include visual thinkers who are often weak in math but adept at working with animals, photography, art and mechanical work, the mathematics types who can run a big tech company, as well as the word thinkers who know lots of facts.
She believes that all of these skills are needed for a thriving workforce, and is concerned about the high unemployment rate (estimated at 75-80%) for people with autism and other disabilities.
Grandin's Early Years
Grandin's remarkable life story began with a doctor's recommendation to her family that she be institutionalized as a child. Her relentless pursuit of science-based education and employment in the cattle industry is well-documented in the 2010 award-winning HBO movie bearing her name and starring Claire Danes.
"It's all about exposure to interesting things and it needs to start early."
One of the memorable scenes is the merciless teasing and bullying she endured from unkind co-workers, who did not appreciate having a woman or a person with autism working in their cattle processing plants. By using her smarts and tenacity, she helped to revolutionize the way animals are handled.
The movie is still impacting neurodiverse viewers, especially those with an autism diagnosis who are working to overcome their own educational and social obstacles and not be underestimated.
"I think this is a very big deal because a lot of parents don't believe their son or daughter is capable of doing anything, and that's just ridiculous. The autism label holds them back. I believe that they need to gently push them out of their comfort zone," Grandin says. "It's all about exposure to interesting things and it needs to start early."
She also meets people who are in denial about their family member's difficulties, and is aware of a lack of services in rural areas of the country, where there is often a 2-year wait for a diagnosis. She advises that grandparents and retired teachers in the community can help fill the gap by working with these children.
"It starts with exposure. Then we must recognize those doors of opportunity and walk right through them."
"When you've got little kids who are not talking, you gotta start working on them now. You already have a diagnosis; he's got the late speech," she says. "The worst thing you can do is let him sit and play with electronics all day."
She is dismayed that schools have eliminated many of the "hands-on classes" like art, sewing, home economics, welding, auto mechanics and woodshop, which expose students to what could lead to a fruitful career. She says without woodshop, art and sewing, she would not have been engaged in school.
"How can you know what you are interested in if you are never exposed to it? It starts with volunteer opportunities at church or in the community, and that leads to paid starter jobs," she says. She specifically mentions jobs repairing airplanes, factory maintenance and working for airlines.
"It goes back to the myth that stupid kids take shop or vocational paths," Grandin says. "It's really about recognizing and appreciating different types of intelligence."
Her Accomplishments
With great pride, Grandin reflects on her many accomplishments. Hearing first-hand from people who say her advice helped transform the lives of their family members with autism "makes me extremely happy … When I hear from parents or adults with autism that my books or speeches helped them pursue a different path in which they succeeded it makes my day. I know I am doing my job."
Grandin says the key to her success was finding a passion for writing and animals and pursuing it. If she hadn't, she admits, "I'd probably be doing maintenance on an apartment building somewhere."
While that is highly doubtful given her gifts, she adds that it took hard work, passion and vision to succeed.
"I was good at seeing doors to opportunity," she says. "When I realized that if I wrote for that cattle rancher magazine, it would help my career and I pursued it. It starts with exposure. Then we must recognize those doors of opportunity and walk right through them."
