Friday Mieography

Temple Grandin was born in Boston, Mass. to Richard and Eustacia Grandin. When she was three years old, she was diagnosed as autistic. It was recommended that she be institutionalized. INSTEAD, her mother placed her initially in a structured nursery school, got her some speech therapy, and had a nanny come in who could spend hours playing educational games with her, and her sister. When she was four, she began talking, and making progress. She went to 'traditional' schools, but has said that middle, and high school were the worst years of her life. She was incessantly teased and picked on, with people calling her "tape recorder" because she repeated things over and over again. She ended up attending "Hampshire Country School", a boarding school for gifted children. She went on to college, earning a bachelor's degree in psychology, and a masters degree in animal science, and a doctorate in animal science, as well.

She is considered a philosophical leader in both animal welfare, and in autism advocacy. She has been quoted to say "I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we've got to do it right. We've got to give those animals a decent life and we've got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect." She has written and been published of more articles then I could count on this subject. She also has designed many things to improve the treatment of cattle, including new chutes to "dip" cattle in that prevent them from drowning, and even curved corrals, that decrease the stress in animals that are being led to slaughter. (she figured out that cattle take comfort in herding in circular patterns). She's even managed to win awards from PETA.

She has never married, nor had children, she says "the part of other people that has emotional relationships is not part of me". She currently lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she continues her work in animal science and welfare, and autism rights. She is a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. She also enjoy's horseback riding, science-fiction, movies, and biochemistry.

She's written multiple books about autism and Asperger's Syndrome (a form of Autism).

She is now, also, the subject of an HBO film about her life, entitled, appropriately, Temple Grandin. And I am watching it, right at this moment....