I happened to be in the car for an hour listening to NPR, and got hooked on an interview with Temple Grandin, a now-renowned campaigner for those suffering from Autism, and an accomplished engineer and designer of humane animal management systems.
Temple Grandin was born in 1947, and was diagnosed with Autism.
She explained in her interview that autistic children and adults can be nervous of physical contact, and therefore need to handled carefully.
Having spent a summer on her aunt's farm in Colorado, she saw how anxious and hyperactive cattle were held firm in a device that pressed on their sides, rendering them calm and less anxious about the injection they were about to get. She realized that this device might be used to calm herself down when she got anxious, so she designed her own wooden "hugging" machine when she went to college.
The fact that many autistic people relate to physical stimuli more than non-autistic people (getting scared by sudden sounds, or being less aware of their emotions), and her ability to visualize complex interactions led to a career designing cattle yards that allowed the animals to move naturally in a curved corridor, free of scary noises and objects. She proved that this would deliver cattle to and through a dip, or to and into the slaughterhouse, in a calm and orderly fashion, cutting down on accidents and reducing the number of people needed to herd those animals.
Sounds dull, doesn't it? But her unique insights on how animals of all kinds react to their surroundings are downright engaging.
The reason for the interview was the imminent screening of a new HBO film about Grandin's life, with Clare Danes as the lead.
The movie aired last Saturday night, so look out for repeats on HBO, and maybe a cinematic release later in the year.
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