Temple Grandin is best known as an advocate for the rights and education of children with autism spectrum disorders.
Autistic herself, Grandin also is a world-renowned authority on animal behavior, and Claire Danes played Grandin in the award-winning 2010 HBO biopic “Temple Grandin.”
An agriculture professor at Colorado State University, Grandin will speak at the Country Living Expo and Cattlemen’s Winterschool on Jan. 31 at Stanwood High School.
“I’ll be talking about basic animal behavior and practical handling,” Grandin said during a telephone interview earlier this month. “I want to introduce ways to reduce stress on livestock and help people focus on teaching their animals not to be afraid of new things.”
Grandin has dedicated her life to promoting the humane care of farm animals and pets. She’s responsible for improving the design of most of the cattle feedlots and slaughterhouses in North America.
“I am a very visual thinker, and for me it’s easy to perceive how an animal would feel,” she said. “I coach ranchers with simple things such as ‘Move your pick-up truck away from that animal’s fence.’ Or I will say, ‘Calm down, don’t yell at your animal.’ It’s not about being an animal whisperer. It’s about being observant and aware of how your livestock might perceive a situation.”
Grandin isn’t a vegetarian.
“I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we’ve got to do it right,” she said. “We’ve got to give those animals a decent life, and we’ve got to give them a painless death. We owe those animals respect.”
Grandin said she is pleased that she will be meeting the Stanwood High School FFA group hosting the expo.
“We need young people interested in farming and we need to help young people get interested in all the wonderful careers in agriculture,” Grandin said. “I am glad to know the Stanwood students are learning other skills, too. We aren’t exposing enough kids to the trades. We need welders, auto mechanics, diesel mechanics.”
Grandin’s other passion is autistic children.
Perhaps you’ve read this well-known Grandin quote:
“Who do you think made the first stone spears? The Asperger guy. If you were to get rid of all the autism genetics, there would be no more Silicon Valley.”
Grandin is scheduled to talk about autism at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 30 in Everett Civic Auditorium, 2415 Colby Ave. Tickets for the that, $25, are available through Brown Paper Tickets.
“Our country needs all the different kinds of minds out there,” Grandin said. “We’re talking about the quirky nerds. The people who are talented and intelligent, but who think differently.
“As a visual person, 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.”
Grandin didn’t talk until she was nearly 4 years old. But after graduation from Hampshire Country School, a New Hampshire boarding school for gifted children, Grandin went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Franklin Pierce College in 1970, a master’s degree in animal science from Arizona State University in 1975 and a doctoral degree in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989.
She’s been teaching at Colorado State for more than 25 years and is the author of numerous books including “Animals Make Us Human.”
Her story has been covered by all the major broadcast and print media in the country, and the BBC did a program called “The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
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