Temple Grandin, the renowned animal behaviorist who is also the world's most famous autistic person, will be in Stone Ridge this week to talk about her twin passions: livestock handling and autism.
Grandin will be giving two lectures at SUNY Ulster, the first on "Humane Treatment and Behavior of Livestock Animals” on April 21 at 6 p.m, and the second on "no-nonsense ideas" for living with autism, on April 22 at 9am.
Grandin is one of the pioneers of humane slaughter techniques for animals, which she insists should include stunning the animal so that it is unconscious and feels no pain. Her empathy with animals, she has said, stems directly from her experience as an autistic person. From a 1997 New York Times profile about her:
Dr. Grandin has devoted her life to the humane treatment of animals, and her affinity for them is more visceral than intellectual. ''I think in pictures, like an animal,'' she had said at breakfast that morning. ''My nervous system is more like an animal's. The sounds that bother me are the same sounds that bother an animal. My emotions are simple -- and the main one is fear.''
One of Grandin's most amazing inventions is the "hug machine," a device for humans inspired by a livestock chute, which is described in detail by the NYT:
When Temple was in second grade, she started dreaming of a ''hug'' machine that would exert steady pressure on her body without overwhelming her hypersensitive nervous system. Later, at an aunt's ranch, she saw how the cattle reacted to the squeeze chute, a metal device that holds animals in place for vaccinations and other procedures, and recognized it as a crude version of her dream of a hug machine. She talked her aunt into letting her use it, and felt her anxiety lessen as the metal sides of the chute pressed against her body. ''At 18, I built my first device,'' she said, encouraged by a high school science teacher, who showed her how to use medical abstracts to research why the machine calmed her. Since then, she has improved the squeeze machine, with inflatable, cushioned sides, a headrest and hydraulic controls, and she keeps one by her bed at home, to reduce anxiety and to relax. The patented machine is widely used by autistic adults and children, especially in schools.
To top off a long list of achievements, Grandin's life has been dramatized by HBO, as you can see below:
