Temple Grandin

What Makes Us Human? Visual Thinking and Different Kinds of Minds

Temple Grandin, one of Time Magazine’s 2010 list of 100 Most Influential People, is an animal behavioral scientist, a bestselling author and a Professor in the Department of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Grandin was diagnosed with autism as a toddler in 1950, learning to speak at age three-and-a-half with the aid of speech therapy and early intervention. She first spoke in public about autism and her own experiences in the mid-1980s.

The Institute for Humanities Research welcomed Dr. Temple Grandin to her alma mater, Arizona State University, on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011. Grandin, the IHR’s 6th Annual Distinguished Lecturer, gave a special lecture at ASU’s Galvin Playhouse entitled "What Makes Us Human? Visual Thinking and Different Kinds of Minds." With over 30 years of study as an animal scientist and keen powers of observation as an individual with autism, she provided her audiences with insights into the consciousness of humans, animals, and people with autism by placing the perceptions of people with autism on the spectrum between humans and animals, and using this position to explore the breadth, as well as limits, of what makes us human.

Grandin has been featured in numerous television shows, magazines and newspapers, and was the focus of a semi-autobiographical HBO film, "Temple Grandin," earlier this year. Her scientific career has led to significant reform of the quality of care for agricultural animals and she has become a leading advocate for both animal welfare and autism. Grandin is the author of eight books, including "Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism" and "Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior."