Temple Grandin Research Paper

Julianna Cretella 10/19/16
Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autism during a time when the disorder was less
understood than it is today. Temples parents were told to put her in an institution but they did not
do that because they loved and cared for her. She learned how to connect with animals and
become a livestock specialist. Temple went through a lot during her career but the biggest
problem she had to go through was sexism. In having to prove her worth as a person with autism,
she also had to deal with harassment and people being biased against her for being the one of the
only female scientists in the livestock industry.
Temple Grandin grew up with poor social and communication skills, she had a learning
disability and was always repetitive. Her

brain worked in pictures and she was not able to use her
words to describe them. She was not able to understand human emotions. Temples parents got
her a speech therapist and sooner than later she was able to be enrolled in school.

She struggled
her way through school because her brain was not able to think the way “normal students” did
and they made fun of her.
Temple hit a turning point in life when she went to the farm with her aunt. On the farm,
she fell in love with the cattle and felt an empathy for them that she couldn’t feel with other
people. On the farm Temple found a machine known as “squeeze-chute” which held the cattle
tightly. Temple always wanted to be hugged so she can feel safe but when someone went to hug
her she would go into a state of panic. Temple decided to use the squeeze- chute on herself and
all of her anxious feelings left her body and she felt safe. Temple decided to build her own
machine and because she focused on it so much, she began to understand things in words. This
machine helped her with social awkwardness and helped her progress through high school.
Temple then went onto college and earned a masters in animal science. Temple became the
greatest innovator in the field and she learned how to feel the cattles pain, fear, and panic.
Temple improved all her weaknesses. She embraced the fact that since she thought

in
pictures, she focused a lot on design. She embraced her empathy for animals and got a degree in
animal science. She had passion for autism and did all reasearch on it. Whatever goal you set,
you must find the passion behind it and always remind yourself of it.
Autism is such an important issue today because it can make some families feel
overwhelmed. Autism affects the way how individuals view the world and interact with one
another. Autistic kids can understand concrete things. They have a strong memory skill and are
able to think in a visual and artistic way. They have very good skills with music and technology
and are able to stay extremely focused. They lack in communication skills and are not able to
deal with emotions. Many autistic kids often get attached to parents.
No matter what type of family you were born into and no matter what weaknesses you
have, you can always control your decisions and work to make yourself better. Temple shows
that you can have bad luck and turn it into good results. She shows that no matter what your
weakness is, as long as you are willing to work on it then it is powerful. Temple never let her
limitations get in the way and she never made excuses which is why she was able to overcome
all these obstacles.