Temple Grandin at SUNY Geneseo
Photo courtesy of Rosalie Winard / Geneseo.edu
Temple Grandin visited SUNY Geneseo as a renowned autism activist and animal behavior expert to deliver a talk.
On Mar. 28, SUNY Geneseo had the privilege of hosting Temple Grandin, a renowned autism activist and animal behavior expert, who delivered an inspiring public talk through the Office of Accessibility Services. The event had both in-person seating at Wadsworth Auditorium and was live-streamed for those who were unable to obtain tickets in time.
Grandin began by explaining how visual thinking played a crucial role in her animal behavior work. Through visual thinking, she could recognize why cows occasionally balk while walking through processing facilities. She explained that distractions— such as reflections, shadows, colors, people within their view, and objects in the wind —can hinder cows from moving forward. To further illustrate this point, she shared a slide titled “I Looked At What Cattle Were Seeing,” which helped her identify the cattle’s perceived distractions through her visual thinking.
Later in her speech, Grandin discussed career opportunities that object visualizers could pursue. On her presentation slide, she listed jobs, including inventor of mechanical equipment, art-graphic design, photography, working with animals, welding, car repair, and electrician. She further explained that object visualizers are essential to fixing things. Yet, these individuals, she exclaims, are usually screened out due to not passing the upper-level math requirements, and therefore, she used the example of more broken elevators and escalators everywhere.
While Grandin is an object visualizer, she also addressed spatial visualizers— individuals who think in patterns and abstractions. Her suggested careers include computer programming, engineering, chemistry or physics, music, and mathematics or data analytics.
Furthermore, she spoke about verbal thinkers— individuals who tend to be good at learning languages and have a connection to words, literature, and speech. Verbal mind occupations she mentioned include writer, sales and marketing, finance, psychologist, lawyer, and teacher.
One of the most fascinating parts of her speech was when she put her own brain scans to exemplify how her brain works differently from others. On the left side of the slide, there was a control brain scan, demonstrating how a non-visual thinker's brain works, while on the right side was Grandin’s brain scan. Grandin explained that she has more visual thinker circuits in her head than the control brain and stated that it “blew my mind” when she saw the scans.
Grandin later described how different individuals perceive and respond to risks. She explained that object visualizers, like herself, see risks, mathematicians calculate risks, and verbal thinkers discuss risks. She then went on to share a story where she was on a flight and saw a gentleman put an open cup of water on his open laptop. She explained that because she is an object visualizer, she saw the risk of doing this and conveyed that she would not put an open cup of water on her open laptop— possibly on a closed one.
A further compelling point Grandin made was how the educational system in elementary, middle, and high school is screening out object visualizers because they cannot do mathematics. She goes on to state, “I am worried that we are screening out the object visualizers, I am really worried.”
To provide further evidence that not all individuals need to learn mathematics or algebra to succeed, she shows a hydraulic power system built by a mechanical genius— another object visualizer like herself.
Grandin acknowledged, however, that teamwork is often necessary for the success of large-scale projects. She showed a slide discussing the “huge shortage of electricians, mechanics, and welders who can read drawings.” She clarified that while object visual thinkers excel at designing plant layouts and inventing specialized mechanical equipment, they require the expertise of spatial math thinkers— such as engineers —to handle calculations like roof trusses and the provision of water and power.
Grandin then shares her own experience of writing her book, Visual Thinking. She explains that she wrote the first drafts by associating them with pictures and later had writer Betsy Lerner reorganize her thoughts with linear thinking. Together, with their different minds, they were able to complete the book and retain the right amount of detail.
Towards the end of her speech, Grandin focused on how individuals can succeed in working with people who have different minds. Some of her advice included avoiding long strips of verbal instruction, getting them slightly out of their comfort zones, limiting video games, and choosing hands-on activities.
Temple Grandin appears brilliant and has found numerous ways to use her object-visualizer mind in fascinating and advantageous ways. If the tickets were sold out or the live stream time slot did not align with one’s schedule, the live stream remains available to view on the Geneseo website.