The movie “Temple Grandin” is a wonderful biographical masterpiece, which immerses us in the skin of an autistic person with an Asperger syndrome and makes us feel the world like her. Directed by Mick Jackson, the movie talks about Temple Grandin’s life, an autistic woman who graduated with a master’s degree in animal science and became a specialist in livestock handling. Temple Grandin is also the founder of a society of livestock equipment and a teacher in the Colorado State University.
This movie enables you to picture several functioning features of an autistic person, which seem to be counterintuitive and very hard to understand for a person who is not autistic. Here are some examples:
When Temple Grandin spends two months at her aunt’s farm, she asks her bedroom door to be marked as being her room. This behaviour can seem strange, but for her and many autistics, the world appears uncertain and confusing. So, this simple piece of paper on her bedroom door reassures her and removes any possibility of change.
Temple Grandin designs a very peculiar machine that looks like one that is used for livestock shoeing. Seeing the cows calm down once stuck in this device, she has the idea of testing it and then to have one made just for her. Autistic people can be hypersensitive and feel overstimulated by a hug for example. However, as for all of us, the pressure felt during a hug is reassuring and restraining. Thus, her invention, which she names « a hug box », allows her to reduce her anxiety when she feels overwhelmed.
The visual thinking of Temple Grandin is very well transcribed in the movie. When the word « shoe » is mentioned, a succession of mental photos of pairs of shoes appears on the screen, exactly like in her mind. In the same way, her ability to perceive all the details is very well staged when she takes the path that cows must follow for their slaughter and she sees all the details that frighten them that none of the cowboys perceive. Once again, it seems curious to most people, but it’s thanks to her features that Temple Grandin designs her first machine for handling livestock.
In addition to offer an immersion in the mind of an autistic woman, this movie delivers a message of hope. Autistics, with their vision and their different understanding of the world, have something more than non-autistic people. Even if Temple Grandin has an Asperger syndrome, the least serious form of autism spectrum disorders, all people with autism have as much to contribute as others, as any person on Earth.
Autism is too poorly known in France, don’t hesitate to get informed and find out more about the subject! To conclude, I would like to finish this article by two quotes from Temple Grandin, one that made me smile and another one that made me think:
“If by some magic, autism had been eradicated from the face of the Earth, then men would still be socializing in front of a wood fire at the entrance to a cave.” (Grandin, 2006)
“The world is gonna need all of the different kinds of minds to work together.” (Grandin, 2010)
By Anne-Charlotte Nasles, M2 PCPI
Keywords
Autism spectrum disorders
Asperger syndrome
Functioning features
Different kinds of minds
Words I have learned
Livestock: bétail
To picture: se représenter
Counterintuitive: contre-intuitif
Peculiar: étrange
Slaughter: abattage
References
Ferguson, S. (producer), Jackson, M. (director), Monger, C. & Johnson, M. (scriptwriters). (2010). Temple Grandin [biopic]. USA: HBO films.
Grandin, T. (2006). Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism (expanded edition).Westminster, MD, USA: Knopf Publishing Group.
Grandin, T. (2010, February). The world needs all kinds of minds [online video]. Retrieved on: https://www.ted.com/talks/temple_grandin_the_world_needs_all_kinds_of_minds?language=fr
Temple Grandin (on the left) and Claire Danes, the actress of the movie (on the right)