One of the world's most famous scholars is living with an illness. She has been working in animal agriculture for more than 50 years. She is an activist, author and speaker on a variety of topics. She shared her experiences as a child, which helped us understand the condition. In a world dominated by verbal thinking, those with visual brains are being overlooked and underestimated, according to her new book. Professor Grandin is at Colorado State University.
What are the ways in which you think? It has been confirmed in the scientific literature that there are two types of visual thinker, one of which is me and the other who is not. They think in patterns and abstract ideas. They are different from people who process information through language. Both types of visual thinker are bottom up. Verbal thinking tends to be more linear and sequential. People think in different ways. The extremes of one type or another are what tends to happen in people with fully verbalautism. I think that I am an extreme object visualizer because of my mental health issues.
Your memoir, Thinking in Pictures, was published more than 25 years ago. What has changed here? The skill-loss issue is a huge problem in the US. When we need to rebuild our physical infrastructure and make more hi-tech products, we're losing essential technical skills. I focus on the education system and how it screens out the visual thinker who likes to build and make things. I visited the feed yard this morning and they are having a hard time finding people to repair the equipment.
I worry too many fully verbal kids are so overprotected by their parents, they are not teaching them basic life skills
What do you think should happen in schools? It's going to be back to hands on classes. The 1990s saw the introduction of more academic testing. The shop would include instruction in trades such as metalwork, woodwork or auto mechanics, cooking, sewing, music, art and theatre. Kids need to try new things and see what works for them.
Is there a change in attitudes about the disorder in your life? There are many more services available. It's good that little kids can be diagnosed early. I worry that too many kids, even fully verbal ones, are overprotected by their parents and that they are not teaching them basic life skills like shopping or laundry.
The criteria for diagnosis of the condition was revised in 2013 and it is now known asASD. Is that a positive thing? It doesn't make sense that the spectrum is so wide. Is it really going to make sense to put people with severeautism in the same category as people with mildautism? The problem of not learning life skills has been made worse by the fact that some kids are labeled as "on the spectrum". It can help with misunderstandings when this is used with relationships.
How can you improve the slaughters for animals? Animals can have some positive emotions if you give them a good life. I am angry when I see cattle coming into the slaughter. Animals are being grown to heavier weights and that is one of the reasons I have seen some problems with this recently. They should have the ability to walk. Some people in the industry have been upset with me for saying that.
Where do you get your connection with animals? I think it's because they don't think in words They think through their sense of smell. Animals used to be denied that they had emotions. I wasn't allowed to use the word "fear" back in my early papers. I was told by the reviewers that I was called "behavioural agitation". It is slowly changing, but I think some of it is due to the fact that animals don't use words.
Many historical figures are considered to be geniuses. Do you think it's a requirement for genius? It can be a factor. Einstein didn't have a speech until he was three or four years old. He would get into a program for people with disabilities today. Savants are people who have extreme skills. They can do amazing math in their heads. The general population has lower proportions of people with savant characteristics.
In 2010 a movie about your life was released. Do you still use the hug machine you invented when you were a student? Do you eat a lot more than just jello and yogurt? The hug machine broke a long time ago. The machine helped me desensitise myself, but I didn't fix it because I had been hugging real people. The idea came from a cattle squeeze chute, where I had terrible panic attacks and anxiety.
I found out I was having terrible bouts of colitis in my 20s. The rest went through me. I went on low-dose antidepressants for my panic attacks and the inflammation in my colon went away. I had an abnormal fear response that was caused by my fear centre being larger than normal.
The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns and Abstractions is a book by Rider & Co. Go to guardianbookshop.com to order your copy. Delivery charges can be applied.
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