know.no mediocrity

Watch this movie.

psydoctor8:

monkeyfrog:

I have a thing for Temple Grandin. Have you heard of her? She is autistic, brilliant, and has made arguably a bigger contribution to humane handling of livestock than anyone else in our lifetimes, not to mention poking a giant hole in theories of autistic functioning.

I’ve read two of her books. They were intriguing, because she was able to describe the way her mind works in a way the reader can understand, and because she relates to animals. Her mind probably does not work like yours. It works a little like mine; that’s what I find so fascinating. I’ve always known I thought differently. My family teases me about “speaking Cary”. I just don’t think like everyone else, and it is frustrating most of the time, because people tend to have no idea what the hell I am getting at, and I often misunderstand what others are saying.

I’m the queen of “What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

I watched the Temple Grandin movie yesterday. Holy cow, could I relate to about 90% of it. It really makes me wonder. There is so much we still don’t know about brain function, neurology, neurobiology, how things are stored and processed…we have a lot of diagnoses available, but a diagnosis is like a point on a number line. It isn’t a box that people fit in. People fit on various points on an infinite number line, a section of which is deemed “normal”.

These are a lot of words to say that if you are creative or interested in brains or biology or neurology or learning “disorders” or communication or tough women or moms or relatives who don’t give up ever or teachers who make the difference, WATCH THIS MOVIE.

I saw it OnDemand on cable. I never re-watch movies, but I’ll be doing that today with the Boy.

I actually just thought about this movie and her squeeze machine, just now when I saw this (great post). See the movie, get the book- this woman is an inspiration on many levels.

Excellent book and movie I read Thinking In Pictures, it has helped me to understand my thought processes better. I can relate to most of what she was experiencing. Growing up as kid I did not feel like I fit in when I would explain things in the detail that I would just be describing from the 3D rendering I could see in my mind but friends and family would mock or make fun of this so I thought there was something wrong with me especially when I could recall the pages of books I read while describing what I was speaking about . I always thought everyone can do that. Thinking In Pictures has helped me to figure out complex mechanical and biological systems that interest me. Like Temple I struggled with math because numbers were hard for me to picture as a visual image rendering. I am better at this now.

My nephew is autistic and has very similar characteristics and mannerism that I exhibited, except I had better speech and social skills. Now at 12 years old he is developing and his autistic tendencies are diminishing little by little. He has an amazing visual mind he can build the complete Tappen Zee bridge out of popsicle sticks, Legos, and Lincoln logs, he even makes the flags atop the main support towers, using thin sheets of toilet paper, very remarkable.  Though there are varying degrees of it, she is actual proof that with the right encouragement and education they can be of great value to society with there innate gifts, where as they are able to learn and adapt to the “normalized” behaviors and perceptions, most people can never be taught or trained to see the world as they do.

Temple has opened doors and continues to advocate for many people with autism.