Biography
Temple Grandin an American professor of animal science at Colorado State University, a best-selling author, an autistic activist, and a consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. She was born on August 29, 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts. She was born with the disorder known as autism spectrum disorder that affects millions of people around the world. The disorder makes it harder to communicate with others and respond differently whenever coming in contact with another person. Mainly because of her disability, Temple doesn't have a spouse or children. Her disability doesn't give her the feeling of being in love with another person.
Temple's career
Despite her disabilities, Temple has earned a degree in psychology from Franklin Pierce College, a master's degree in animal science from Arizona State University and a doctoral degree in animal science from the University of Illinois. Temple designed a type of navigation system for cattle when they were taken to the slaughter houses. It helped on getting the cattle there faster than how farmers would gather them up. She invented it in order to calm down the cattle so they wouldn't worry about being killed or know that they were going to be killed. She also invented a device called the "hug box", which was first used by her in order to calm her down whenever she was scared or stressed. She got the idea when she saw it being used on cattle when she was in the farm. The device was then used to treat other autistic kids that had the problem that she did. Along with her inventions, Temple became a famous author and wrote books such as "The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum" and "Thinking in pictures", which were mainly about the autistic person's perspective of the world.
Obstacles and Opportunities
Temple had a different way to see doors than how any other person would see them. She saw doors as she would see an opportunity to defeat an obstacle. She would also think that there was an opportunity ahead of her and she would take it as soon as she opened the door. If someone can see obstacles as opportunities and learn from those experiences, then we would all be a lot more successful on doing what most can't. For instance, Temple knew more about the behavior of the cattle better than how any other of the farmers did. Her talent led to her inventions that many would struggle to make or have no knowledge of it. Instead of seeing her autism as more of an an obstacle, she saw it as an opportunity to help in a way that she could.