Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History, Volume XIX

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Meet Dr. Temple Grandin. She's an an animal scientist and an Associate Professor at Colorado State University.

From her website:
Dr. Grandin is a designer of livestock handling facilities and a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Facilities she has designed are located in the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. In North America, almost half of the cattle are handled in a center track restrainer system that she designed for meat plants. Curved chute and race systems she has designed for cattle are used worldwide and her writings on the flight zone and other principles of grazing animal behavior have helped many people to reduce stress on their animals during handling.
She's also autistic.

She's written numerous books about her experiences, and how her autism has helped her to become the top person in her field. She feels autism has helped her understand animals in a way that "normal" people simply can't, and that her deep understanding stems from similarities between autistic behavior and animal behavior.

I've been reading about Dr. Grandin's life and accomplishments for years, and she was interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air yesterday. She was promoting her new book, Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals.

I think one of the things I admire about Dr. Grandin is her immense compassion for the animals that share our world. She's a realist - she knows people will continue to eat animals, so she does work that enhances the quality of life for food animals.

Well done, Dr. Grandin. Thank you for setting an example in moral behavior for the rest of us, and talking about your condition in a helpful, enlightening way. You are truly making history.

1 comments:

Random Michelle K said...

I heard that interview last night. I think it may have been the third interview I've heard with her (At least one was also on Fresh Air {I love Terri Gross]).

She's pretty amazing, and also has/had a pretty amazing family who were willing to push her as hard as she could go, to let her get as far as she has.