Trailblazers
April 2024

Sanctuary celebrates world-renowned autism advocate Temple Grandin, Ph.D., as part of our "Celebrating Autism Awareness & Acceptance" issue. Myrna Haskell, executive editor, interviewed Dr. Grandin in 2018. She is an inspiration to everyone who is part of the autism community but also to women everywhere, as an industrial designer, inventor, author, and leading expert in animal science.

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Temple Grandin, Ph.D.
​(Born 1947)
Photo Credit: Rex Sanchez

Temple Grandin, Ph.D., is a world-renowned advocate for those on the autism spectrum, a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, and an animal behavior consultant to the livestock industry. At the age of eighteen, Temple invented the “squeeze machine” (also known as a “hug box”) to help calm down her anxiety and panic attacks after realizing that deep pressure had a soothing and calming effect over her. She has also transformed the way livestock is handled. She is the inventor of the "double rail (center track) conveyor restrainer system," a humane, cattle handling system. She is a consultant to and designer for many of the largest animal handling facilities in the world. As a highly sought-after speaker who shares insights about her personal journey, she has championed the idea that “thinking differently” should not be perceived as having an inferior intellect. 

"I THINK IN PICTURES. Words are like a second language to me. I translate both spoken and written words into full-color movies, complete with sound, which run like a VCR tape in my head. When somebody speaks to me, his words are instantly translated into pictures. Language-based thinkers often find this phenomenon difficult to understand, but in my job as an equipment designer for the livestock industry, visual thinking is a tremendous advantage...One of the most profound mysteries of autism has been the remarkable ability of most autistic people to excel at visual spatial skills while performing so poorly at verbal skills. When I was a child and a teenager, I thought everybody thought in pictures. I had no idea that my thought processes were different." ~ From Temple's book Thinking in Pictures (Vintage, expanded edition, 2006)

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Some interesting facts...

• At the age of 2, Temple was diagnosed with autism, considered a form of brain damage at the time (circa 1949).
• ​He mother worked tirelessly to find the best care and instruction for Temple. Her treatments included extensive speech therapy, which helped to draw out and reinforce her communication skills.
• She began to speak at the age of 4.
• She is the author of several acclaimed books on autism, including Different…Not Less (Future Horizons, 2012), Thinking in Pictures (Vintage 2006), The Autistic Brain (Mariner Books, 2014), and Autism and Education: The Way I See It: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know (Future Horizons, 2023), among others.
• Her numerous accolades include an international award from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), her 2017 induction into the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, and being selected by Time Magazine as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World" (2010).
• ​Temple Grandin, a 2010 Emmy-award winning motion picture, was based on her life.
• In 2020, she was named One of the Top 10 College Professors in the Country by CEOWORLD Magazine. 
• Temple was honored with a sculpture housed within the JBS Global Food Innovation Center on the Colorado State University Campus.

Temple (left) with Her Mother, Eustacia Cutler
Photo Courtesy: Temple Grandin

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Interview in Sanctuary

An Open Door Documentary

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