Temple Grandin Documentary

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss autism history.

 Coleman Cornelius at Colorado State University:

Temple Grandin – a tireless speaker, prolific author, and distinguished professor of animal science at Colorado State University – is often circled by students on the Fort Collins campus. She is flagged down by fans at the airport. And she is surrounded by admirers at agriculture conferences and gatherings for families of children with autism.

She is a pioneer in food-animal welfare who has achieved global distinction with insights attained from her own autism. Chief among them is her ability – gained through visual thinking – to understand livestock behavior and to design effective and humane handling systems used by suppliers of some of the world’s largest food purveyors.

“Who would have ever predicted that an autistic woman would come along and transform how we handle our animals? I think that’s why she is such a great hope for families in the autism community,” says Janet Riley, one of Grandin’s friends and colleagues. “She’s a rock star.”

Now, audiences worldwide can learn about Grandin’s extraordinary life and influence through the documentary film “An Open Door.” It will be available on the streaming platforms Amazon Prime, Apple TV+ and Kanopy beginning Aug. 12. The film is presented by CSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences, was written and directed by award-winning filmmaker John Barnhardt and is distributed by Good Deed Entertainment. It has been accepted into 72 festivals, has earned 27 individual awards, and has been featured in 26 states and nine countries.

Temple Grandin on Education Reform

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of adults with autism and other developmental disabilities.

Temple Grandin at NYT:

I often get asked what I would do to improve both elementary and high school. The first step would be to put more of an emphasis on hands-on classes such as art, music, sewing, woodworking, cooking, theater, auto mechanics and welding. I would have hated school if the hands-on classes had been removed, as so many have been today. These classes also expose students — especially neurodivergent students — to skills that could become a career. Exposure is key. Too many students are growing up who have never used a tool. They are completely removed from the world of the practical.

Despite my accomplishments, if I were a young person today, I would have difficulty graduating from high school because I could not pass algebra. It was too abstract, with no visual correlations. This is true for many of today’s students who get labeled as bad at math, students who might otherwise pass alternative math courses such as statistics that would also apply to real-life work situations. There is too much emphasis in school on testing and not enough on career outcomes. The fact that I failed the SAT in math prohibited me from getting into veterinary school, but today I am a university professor in animal sciences and I am invited to speak to groups of veterinarians to advise them on their work. The true measure of an education isn’t what grades a student gets today, but where they are 10 years later.

Oliver Sacks, RIP

In chapter 2 of The Politics of Autism, I describe how the issue entered the national agenda.

The Washington Post reports:

Oliver Sacks, the world-renowned neurologist and author who chronicled maladies and ennobled the afflicted in books that were regarded as masterpieces of medical literature, died Aug. 30 at his home in Manhattan. He was 82.

In 1993, Dr. Sacks contributed greatly to autism awareness with his New Yorker profile of Temple Grandin, titled "An Anthropologist on Mars."  This passage is as relevant today as it was 22 years ago:

The history of autism, indeed, has been in part a desperate search for, and promotion of, “breakthroughs” of various sorts. One father of an autistic boy expressed this to me with some bitterness: “They come up with a new ‘miracle’ every four years—first it was elimination diets, then magnesium and vitamin B6, then forced holding, then operant conditioning and behavior modification—now all the excitement is about auditory desensitization and F.C.” Facilitated communication, which has been widely publicized, is based on the notion that if the hand or arm of a nonverbal autistic child is supported by a “facilitator,” the child may then be able to communicate by typing, or using an electronic communicator or a letter board. This technique was originally used, with considerable success, in children with cerebral palsy, in whom motor difficulties may make it impossible to speak. But autism is not simply a motor problem, like cerebral palsy; it is infinitely more complex. And yet the most extravagant claims have been made for the powers of F.C. in autistic people, too (that previously nonlinguistic children, for instance, have written entire autobiographies), and its proponents range from enthusiastic to evangelical. But rigorous testing suggests that, while F.C. can be useful for children with cerebral palsy or juvenile parkinsonism, its use with autistic children is much more dubious, and that in many cases the facilitator unconsciously guides the child’s hand.

The Effects of Awareness

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the CDC study found an autism prevalence in Utah of 1 in 47.

The recent study by the CDC focused on samples from 14 areas, including 2,123 children from a Wasatch Front community. Researchers examined medical records for 8-year-olds and, where they had access, school records.

The results were intended to be a snapshot, not statewide or nationwide judgments, said epidemiologist Jon Baio, the study’s lead author.

Differing rates may be explained in part by what records were available. In the Alabama area found to have the lowest prevalence — 1 in 210 — researchers couldn’t access school records. And poverty can affect whether a family seeks advice from a doctor about a child’s behavior.

"You might really rely on those educational evaluations and not have the resources to go to a medical clinic," said Laura Klinger, director of the TEACCH autism program at the University of North Carolina.
...
"I hesitate to say it’s a positive thing that so many children were identified in Utah," said Baio, the CDC researcher. "But in some ways it does reflect that children in that community have better access to programs, services, to resources that are serving children with autism."

At Salon, Thomas Rogers interview Temple Grandin:

 On the other hand, this newly expanded number may also make a lot of parents of kids with autism feel much less alone.

I think that’s really important. When I was young my mother was totally alone. It would have definitely made a lot of difference. She would have had other parents to talk to in a support group and none of that existed in the ’50s.

Nevertheless, while people have been talking a tremendous amount about autism and Asperger’s in recent years, you suggest that’s not been entirely productive for children with autism.

To a certain extent it’s a good thing. On the other hand, you get to the smart kids who could go have successful careers in Silicon Valley getting held back by labels. One kid goes to Silicon Valley, the other stays home to play video games, and they’re the same geek. I visit people in [autism] meetings, and a 9-year-old will come up and want to talk about his autism. I’d rather talk about his science project. You get fixated on your favorite thing as a kid, and now kids are getting fixated on autism instead of dogs or medieval knights. I’d rather get them to fixate on that something that could give them a career.

Food Safety News Interview with Temple Grandin

Those of us in the broad autism community think of Temple Grandin as an example of how far people on the spectrum can go. Helena Bottemiller of Food Safety News recently interviewed her -- not about autism, but about her field of expertise, livestock handling. Part I is here. And Part II is here.

Wisdom from Temple Grandin

Not really about policy, but this Wall Street Journal interview with Temple Grandin is so good, I had to include an excerpt:

"You know what working at the slaughterhouses does to you? It makes you look at your own mortality."

"When I was younger I was looking for this magic meaning of life. It's very simple now," she says. Making the lives of others better, doing "something of lasting value, that's the meaning of life, it's that simple."

How about meaning, I ask. What's the picture for that word? "Ok, now I'm seeing a mother saying your book helped my kid go to college—that's meaning. Or my kid got a job because of one of your lectures—that's meaning. Or a rancher comes up and says that piece of equipment works really well—that's meaning. Concrete, real stuff. On. The. Ground."

Temple Grandin Interview

In an interview with MSNBC, Temple Grandin talks about some major questions of autism policy:

Cases of autism are rising. Why do you think that is?
Some of it is probably due to the way autism is diagnosed. I saw people on the HBO lot that probably have Asperger’s but never got a diagnosis as a child. There has been an increase in regressive autism, children who develop normally, have speech, and then lose it. I think there’s something going on with some type of environmental contaminant. Some insult is getting to the child whose genes are susceptible to autism. I think we are going to be hearing more about epigenetics and autism. With epigenetics you look at how the genome responds to the environment. How things like toxins and diet and other things turn on the switches that regulate how certain genes are expressed.

“Autism pride” or neurodiversity is a growing movement. Do you think there needs to be a “cure” for autism?
I believe there’s a point where mild autistic traits are just normal human variation. Mild autism can give you a genius like Einstein. If you have severe autism, you could remain nonverbal. You don’t want people to be on the severe end of the spectrum. But if you got rid of all the autism genetics, you wouldn’t have science or art. All you would have is a bunch of social ‘yak yaks.’