Dr. Temple Grandin

A Successful Life

Dr. Temple Grandin has a disorder known as autism. What this means is that words are translated into pictures in her mind. This disorder has made life into a struggle for her because she is not able to understand words very easily. Words are like that of a second language to her. That is why I find it incredible that she has written such an awesome book. Thinking in Pictures, her third book, is about her life, and the hardships and joys that she has encountered because of autism. I have come to the conclusion that Dr. Grandin must be a very dedicated person from what I have read.

The specific topic of this book is what the life of an autistic person is like. She really seems to tell her life story in this book. She helps the reader visualize her life and the struggles that were in it. She might not call them struggles though. I believe that to her autism was just an obstacle in life and she seems to have went right around it. I think that the reason she wrote her book was to help people better understand what an autistic person has to deal with. She has found a way to get around her problems unlike many other people with this disorder, so I believe she is kind of speaking for all the people with autism.

Dr. Temple Grandin's book, Thinking in Pictures, seems to be an autobiography. She was first diagnosed, or "labeled" as she called it, as a person with autism at the age of three. Throughout her life, her mother helped her past all of the tough times. She had a tough time relating to people because she could not understand them due to her inability to think as most people due. Dr. Grandin felt as though she stood out in high school physically as well as socially. This is the time that she learned how to overcome her disability though. She learned what the word change meant. It sounds really easy, but for her it was no simple task since change is an abstract word. Therefore, she could not see a clear picture of it. She went on to college and got her Ph. D in animal science. Today she is one of the leading developers of farm animal equipment. Dr. Grandin uses her ability to understand everything in pictures to better understand animals. One great example of this is about a dipping vat that she designed. In her mind she could picture what cows would see and what they would be scared of, because of this she was able to create a new vat that worked wonderfully. Her ability to see everything in her head allows her to not have to make a model first. She can go over every possible situation in her head. She says it is like having a VCR in her head. Everything