Dr. Temple Grandin is an expert in animal sciences but it is her insight into her own autism that has really catapulted her profile and career. You can hear Grandin putting her support behind bringing back the trades and the hand-on careers back into schools as they definitely serve those who find it difficult to do 'regular' academic work.
An expert on animal behavior, Temple Grandin has designed humane handling systems for half the cattle-processing facilities in the US, and consults with the meat industry to develop animal welfare guidelines. As PETA wrote when awarding her a 2004 Proggy: “Dr. Grandin's improvements to animal-handling systems found in slaughterhouses have decreased the amount of fear and pain that animals experience in their final hours, and she is widely considered the world's leading expert on the welfare of cattle and pigs.”
Grandin’s books about her interior life as an autistic person have increased the world's understanding of the condition with personal immediacy -- and with import, as rates of autism diagnosis rise. She is revered by animal rights groups and members of autistic community, perhaps because in both regards she is a voice for those who are sometimes challenged to make themselves heard.
"Autism is part of who I am."
Temple Grandin
[Via TED]
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