Autism Expert Temple Grandin Wants Us To Appreciate and Understand ‘Visual Thinking’ During World Autism Awareness Month
When she was a child, Temple Grandin was often discounted and undermined because of her differences in behavior and communication, which were caused by autism. With proper support and perseverance, she overcame many obstacles and ignored the naysayers.
Today, Dr. Grandin is a noted college professor, an expert in livestock, a respected author of two dozen books, and an autism expert who lectures around the world.
Currently, she is considered to be the most famous person in the world with autism and continues to pass on life lessons and other vital advice to parents, educators, the business community, and more.
This is a timely topic since today, Sunday, April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day, which celebrates and shines a positive light on children with autism worldwide, as well as the month of April, which is Autism Awareness Month.
Dr. Grandin’s latest bestselling 340-page book, Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions (Riverhead Books), reveals, celebrates, and advocates the special minds and contributions of visual thinkers, who share many common traits with Dr. Grandin.
In, Visual Thinking, she crushes the myth that human intelligence rests on language. She is clearly someone who knows a myriad of ways of grasping the world through visual thinking.
As a world-class scientist, she explores cutting-edge research to take readers inside the world of those who are visual thinkers, reframing the conversation on neurodiversity and showing how necessary different types of thinkers are essential for our collective well-being.
A well-regarded professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University, Dr. Grandin is concerned that visual thinkers — who tend to become engineers, auto mechanics, metalworkers, and excel in other technical professions — are being overlooked because schools no longer offer shop and other tech classes, which used to spur interest from teens, who then could enter into life-long passions and vocations.
This revitalization of schools’ having tech and shop programs could, she believes, help the next generation of teens and adults with autism turn into fully employed and appreciated workers because of the variety of fields in which they could excel. This is in light of the current 75 to 80 percent unemployment rate for people with autism and other special needs.
As the mother of a 17-year-old son with autism, Dr. Grandin has given this writer a great deal of sage advice over the years that have inspired me to nudge, encourage, and cajole him out of his comfort zone and the outcome has always been extremely positive. She has done this through our conversations, her books, and lectures.
Dr. Grandin continues to teach parents, caregivers, educators, therapists, and individuals with autism and other “differences” that if Dr. Grandin can grapple with self-doubt and fear, and thrive, there is always hope for the rest of us, no matter what challenges, roadblocks, and naysayers try to get in our way.
Recently, Medium spoke to Dr. Grandin about several of her books, her legacy, and what it means when parents and caregivers thank her for her advice.
What is the overall thrust of the book?
Dr. Temple Grandin: In the book, I discuss different kinds of thinking. There are the object visualizers, like me, and the more mathematical, visual, and spatial thinkers. The visualizers have a tough time with algebra. So, what’s happening in our schools is that we’ve screened out the object visualizers that we need to make a lot of that specialized, mechanically complicated equipment such as packaging machines.
How did you personally relate to this?
I went back and thought about all of the projects I’ve worked on in my career, and no matter which big meat plants I went to, there was a division of engineering that showed up in every one of them. All the mechanically complicated equipment came from people working in the shop, and most of them couldn’t do algebra. Then the degreed engineer does things like boilers and refrigeration. I got to thinking that we’ve got a big skill loss issue.
Some 20 to 25 years ago, schools started taking out shop classes. The other big mistake that a lot of companies made was removing in-house engineering departments. Back in the early ’90s, these companies would have big equipment shops where they would build their own equipment. In the short run, they said, “It’s cheaper for us to just contract the workout. Well, that works just fine until the people that are working in the shops start retiring and they’re not getting replaced.” That’s a big problem.
Is there a solution to this?
The solution is putting the shop classes back in the schools, and reinstating all of the hands-on classes in the schools — art, sewing, music, auto mechanics, and woodworking. They also took out all the home economics classes. So, we’ve got students growing up today totally separated from the world of the practical; that’s a big problem.
The other thing that’s holding back a lot of students from careers like veterinary technician is the math and algebra requirements that have gotten so rigorous. I’m one of these people that couldn’t do algebra, and I’ve had a very successful career designing livestock facilities and doing research.
Then I started researching what they do in other countries. Why is Holland making all this equipment? Well, because in ninth grade a kid can choose to go on a university track or tech track. They don’t treat the tech track like a lesser form of intelligence.
Why did you write your new book, Visual Thinking?
During the Covid-19 lockdown, the writing process was triggered during the trips I took in 2019, a time when I visited two state-of-the-art pork processing plants, a brand-new chicken processing plant, and the Steve Jobs Theater. At that time I realized that there are a lot of things that we are not making in the United States.
For example, at the poultry plants and the pork plants that I visited, I saw all of the specialized equipment that was imported from Holland. And we used to make all of those items in the United States. I saw that at the Steve Jobs Theater, the glass walls came from Italy and Germany. Then as I started delving deeper, I found out that the state-of-the-art electronic chip-making machine we rely on also comes from Holland. The basic thing that made me write the book is that we are losing important skills.
What does it mean to you that people credit you for making autism so much more understandable and less scary?
One of the things I emphasize when I talk is what people with autism can do. In my lectures, I show how I started my business and how I sold my design services to Cargill for its beef plants. I designed the front end of every Cargill beef plant in North America. How did I get that job? I sent a portfolio with a big drawing and pictures of finished jobs and trade magazine articles to the head of Cargill. I showed examples of my work. I sold my work; not myself.
Talk about how important communication is for all of us.
You have to have some way to communicate. I was two-and-a-half, and I can vividly remember the frustration of not being able to communicate. A young non-verbal child needs a picture board or some other way to communicate.
Overall, what do you hope that parents, educators, and others who read your book will get out of it?
I want to see the kids who are “different” get good jobs, such as those at the airlines, steel plants, and other companies that need them. We need these vital skills. It goes back to the myth that stupid kids take shop or technical paths; it’s really about recognizing and appreciating different types of intelligence. It is discounted because we just don’t understand it.
What is one piece of advice for parents of newly diagnosed children with autism who have limited language skills?
I have to know the age of the child to answer this. If the child is three years old and not talking, the worst thing you can do is to do nothing. We can’t let them sit there vegetating. If there aren’t the proper services (like speech, occupational, and physical therapy) that the child needs, then get the grandmothers or retired teachers in the community to work with the child. Some teachers are born with a knack to reach children on the autism spectrum, and they are invaluable.
How do you judge if the (speech, occupational, and physical) services are working?
You need to see more speech. You want to see the child wait and take turns at games. Then master skills like dressing and using utensils. Once the child is older, it is important to help them to learn work skills. Find a little shop or farm stand where they can learn to greet customers. It’s all about exposure, and it starts at an early age.
Can you talk about “the disabilities trap” that you discuss in the book?
Basically, what happens, is that a lot of parents overprotect their kids. I am seeing smart, fully verbal kids who have never gone shopping. They aren’t learning laundry, not opening and managing a bank account, and they are not learning the most basic things. They are not learning to work. My mother had me in a little sewing job when I was 13 years old, working with a seamstress out of her house. I started learning how to do a task for somebody outside the family. That’s really important.
Tell me about meeting actress Claire Danes so she could study you for the 2010 Emmy-Award-Winning HBO Movie: Temple Grandin.
I met for half a day with her, and she recorded everything. She wanted to capture my movements and the way that I speak. I gave her some ancient videotapes. She captured me; she ‘sort of’ became me. I was driving into school and clips of the movie came on National Public Radio. It sounded like me, but I realized it was from the movie because I recognized the lines.
Did you receive any memorabilia from the HBO movie set?
I got pictures, and I use them in my talks. I have a director’s chair from the movie and some of the pins that Clare Danes wore in the movie. She gave me a gift of a beautiful leather horse. I absolutely still have it.
So, how do you know as a parent if you are pushing and stretching? How do you know if it’s too little or too much?
The first thing I want to do is I’m a big believer in exposing kids to all different kinds of things. When I was in elementary school if I hadn’t had wood shop classes, art, and sewing, I would have hated school. I loved all three of those classes. What you have to do is you have to stretch. You don’t throw them in the deep end of the pool.
What is a major lesson you learned that you want to pass on to my readers?
Right now, at the age of 75, the primary thing I want to focus on is helping these kids get into great jobs. The fact that your son was in the school play and maybe I had something to do with making that happen, makes me happy.
The thing I learned a long time ago was to sell my ability. I’m a big believer in making portfolios of your work to get jobs. I had a sign painting business when I was in high school. My first sign for pay was for a hair salon. I had to make a sign a hair salon would want. I couldn’t decorate it with flying saucers. You show off the work. And the thing I call, the 30-second wow!
I’ve got an old-fashioned website now, but one advantage to that old-fashioned website is you can be on dialup, and it will download because rural internet access is still a really serious problem. But I believe that it's all about selling the work. My primary identity is being a scientist.
You have spoken about the time when you became scared to fly.
I talk about it all the time. This was due to a very scary emergency landing when I was a senior in high school. A few years later I got on a plane with Holstein heifers, and I got to sit in the cockpit. It’s all about making scary things interesting and, then, the fear can become secondary.
I discovered in the book that you have given scholarships to some 20 graduate students over the years so they graduate debt free. That is quite something.
I take the money from my books and speaking to be able to do this. It is kind of like the golden ticket. I have had many students do really well. The biggest thing I found is motivation. They have to be motivated. Another big mistake is that when they get in trouble in a class, they don’t ask for help. Covid-19 knocked the wind out of young people more than older people. It was a time when their world tipped upside down. I have seen more motivation issues since Covid. My students are doing well in the classes and the research, but getting their thesis written is sometimes a problem.
What is your big concern today for the autism community?
I worry about kids getting jobs. I tell the people I meet in the corporate world that they must start to realize that some people think differently, and we need to look at complementary skills. Things are getting too rigid and too verbal, and many students are being left behind. For example, I failed the math portion of the SAT. So, if a student is brilliant in math, he or she may need remediable help in reading. I sold jobs based on my portfolio, so if you are good at art or architecture or another endeavor, put together a portfolio to show your work. This is a really positive way to get your foot in the door.
What does it mean to you when parents come up to you at speaking engagements, they share their stories, and you give them hope for the future?
That’s really important. So many parents today have smart children and teens who are doing well in school, but they haven’t done basic life skills like shopping. My mother pushed me and gave me choices, and one of those choices was not staying in my room and doing nothing.
Parents today need to “stretch” their children out of their comfort zone. Don’t push them into the deep end, but gradually stretch them into finding what they like and what they are good at, so it can lead to job skills, jobs, and, hopefully, independence.
You’ve got to start them out slowly. They must start learning how to do jobs outside of the home! You can’t do it suddenly, but it needs to be done. The parents have to wean them off the video games gradually.
What is a major message that you want to share with the overall autism community?
I want to convey something that’s going to get those kids on the autism spectrum out there doing something to be successful. There was a lot of stuff I did that was creative, where I had to figure out how to get “in the back door” for something. In the movie, they show that I went up to an editor to get his card. I actually did that. When I got that press pass, it got me into a lot of really important meetings. I think that’s really important to convey. It’s important to get there and do things. Find out what the young person with autism enjoys and what he or she is good at and, hopefully, it will lead to good jobs.
A lot of people just don’t think to try to get in through “a back door.” For example, I meet so many moms, and I will ask them if they have any of their kids’ artwork on their phones. They will have, maybe, one piece — not even a good one. I tell them they need to get all the good stuff on the phone. Then, it’s like a portfolio! They need to sell their child’s skills!
