Some Encouraging Words For You From Temple Grandin
In the podcast this week, I covered an absolute icon in the autism community, Temple Grandin. Having been diagnosed on the autism spectrum herself, Temple is an academic and an animal behaviorist, having revolutionized the process of treating livestock by developing livestock handling systems that reduces stress and improves the efficiency of animal handling in general. She is also a spokesperson for autism and has written multiple books on the subject. Her life has become a testimony that proves that autism is not an obstacle, but a part of someone full of opportunity and the potential for a rich and fulfilling life. Temple knows this and has made it known that she believes spectrumites should pursue nothing but greatness, because they are more than capable of it despite what makes them different. That being said, I thought this would be a great opportunity to share some of her best quotes that I hope can be encouraging to you, whether you are a spectrumite yourself or one of your loved ones is.
“There needs to be a lot more emphasis on what a child can do instead of what he cannot do.”
I love this quote because, well, it’s so true. Very often we’re told what spectrumites can’t do in their day-to-day lives while ignoring the countless things they can do. One of the main points I’ve been making since I started this Substack is that spectrumites can do so much if they just learn more about themselves and turn those ‘weak points’ into strengths. Even my diagnosis report, while still helpful in the long-term, mostly just listed what was negative about my place on the spectrum without giving much thought to the advantages I have. It’s one of the reasons why I felt so discouraged and deflated at first after I read it. It was fifteen pages of near constant negativity without some plus sides to balance it out. Granted, Temple could be talking about children in general here, and while she is correct on that too if so, I’d like to emphasize that spectrumites should be told more what they can do instead of what they can’t do, because at the end of the day, the former far outnumbers the latter. Most spectrumites can still hold a job, they can find hobbies that give them a foothold in the world, they can still get married, they can still buy a house, they can still find success and use their strengths to get there. I’m not there yet in all those areas, but you can be sure I’ll do everything in my power to get there.
“What would happen if the autism gene was eliminated from the gene pool? You would have a bunch of people standing around in a cave, chatting and socializing and not getting anything done.”
This is a pretty daring quote. On the surface it suggests that without people on the autism spectrum, nothing would get done. Society might even be stuck in a state of stasis, unable to evolve or progress. What Temple is trying to emphasize here is that the intelligence and creative minds of spectrumites are so important that it would be a detriment to society should they cease to exist or if they didn’t exist at all. Let’s be honest, a lot of people live pretty passively. I’ve seen this myself. A lot of people are generally happy just going to work every day so they can keep a roof above their heads and when they’re not working, they’re not really doing much more besides resting at home watching Netflix or playing video games. While none of those things are inherently bad and there are even worse habits people can have, if everyone was like that, we would be stagnant as a human race. Without different minds that are wired to think deeper and passionate enough to dream bigger, there’s not much to be excited about the future for.
Despite saying this, by no means am I claiming that because I’m a spectrumite, I’m better or more passionate than neurotypicals. I’m not always driven, not always passionate, and sometimes I just want to sit and watch Barry. I love hanging out with friends doing a whole lot of nothing. I’m not always proud of the ways I spend my time, but this at least proves that just because my mind is wired a certain way, it doesn’t mean I’m productive 24/7 by default.
“If I could snap my fingers and be nonautistic, I would not. Autism is part of what I am.”
I love this quote because it’s what every spectrumite should hear. Autism is part of who you are. To suddenly turn non autistic if you can make it happen would be eliminating a vast portion of what makes you unique. If I was given the option to eliminate my autism or be ‘cured’ of it, I would vehemently turn it down, partially because I have no idea how much I would change, and that’s more terrifying to me than staying right where I’m at on the spectrum. How much of myself would I lose if I ‘snapped’ my autism away?
“You simply cannot tell other people they are stupid, even if they really are stupid.”
There wasn’t really anything I wanted to take from this quote other than, ‘darn’. Sometimes I really wish I could.
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