temple grandin

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By 'physical presentation' do you mean her autistic traits or you think she's ugly?
Honestly, putting down someone because she appears autistic......well you're no better than the kids that bullied you at school.

She said she was "repulsed by her physical presence".

As for my opinion on the woman herself... I don't look up to her in any way, she's vastly overrepresented in the media, and I don't really need to identify with animals to have a good life.

I just think she's awesome.

I hate it when people tell me I can be like Temple Grandin, or as functional as her, or whatever. Even I am more functional than her, and coming from me that's scary. So telling me to use Temple as my role model like a few ignorant people in real life (professionals!) did was an insult.

Whatever people think of her physical appearance... It's amazing that she's HFA (definitely not AS by her childhood presentation) and unless you already KNEW... You wouldn't guess that she's autistic. She's a great speaker and does MANY people on the spectrum a great service to demonstrate that people on the spectrum CAN and DO hold normal conversations and can communicate intelligently... That autistics CAN get PhDs, work at a university, consult, and not just sit and rock and slobber all day long. She's a happenstance mascot to give a positive view on autism... And considering the time that she grew up (50s if I remember)... It was much needed as even when she started doing her talks, the world was much more close-minded than it is today-ha! Less autism-savvy for sure-double ha!

I have no retort for the people exclaiming their visceral repugnance to her... I guess there's still hope that Jenny McCarthy's kid will grow up some day to represent all of us beautifully... But I've read hardly any actual criticisms on the woman in this thread. But for the few who had actual issues with her logic, I am there with you... But you must keep in mind the time period this woman was forming all these ideas about autism vs what was known. Even though I disagree with some of her penchant viewpoints... I see a lot of how I think in her learning style and greatly value what she has to say for autism because of the general direction that it points people towards when regarding autism.

And as for her slaughterhouse work... She even states that she's not veg or anything... But that she also does just want to make the animals' lives better. Slaughterhouses aren't just going to disappear... So who else in the world has done ANYTHING for the sake of the animals on par with what she has already done for the animals at slaughterhouses in america & canada?

Anyway... A few of my qualms with her logic are:

I don't like her comparing autistics to savant animals... unless she ever extrapolates on that concept.
I would like it if she talked more on the personalities of different animals, why that is so, and how that relates more directly to the variety in autism. But it's cool to have your own associations... And it does help people try and think about autism in a more relative way... comparing to something "normal" like animals.

I don't like how she delineates & partitions thought pattern/strategy
I appreciate the direction she is heading with that notion. I realize that you have to scale things down for talks & books... but I think she even acknowledges that there is greater variety out there.

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That's pretty much it. There are small things you can pick at her for... But then, how strange are your ideals on autism? Who the crap really knows what it's about. At least she finishes all her talks with ways of helping your autistic kids via simple solutions even... and she has very sensible solutions/theories for autism in the population. And whatever your personal reactions are to her, you should take note of how regular people react to her... They are engaged with the interaction... Probably because there is some sort of stigmata with autism that autistics should have some sort of negative physical appearance (as many ppl even here have noticed about her, certainly) but that also as I have stated, you would never guess she was autistic unless you knew already! (I'm not saying you wouldn't necessarily guess something was "up". but I sincerely doubt most people would guess autism)... I think her appearance and demeanor give a good combination of what is needed to engage normal society with the autistic world. If she were gorgeous, then people probably wouldn't think she's autistc--as good a speaker that she is... That's just as bad a thing to say... But I do think her appearance helps people take that "bite"...

At any rate...

She gives autism every possible positive light to society at large and is a boon to the autistic community.

over my head?

I don't really see that as a physical issue, but whatever.

Someone took out their banhammer in this thread.

As for Mrs. Grandin, I never even heard of her before coming to WP and the whole "hug machine" thing I vaguely read about is kinda creepy, but she seems to be spreading positive awareness about autism so she gets a thumbs up from me.

I finally caught the movie on HBO tonight, I thought Clair Danes was great