Temple Grandin

Mary Temple Grandin was born in Boston in 1947 and was diagnosed with autism as a child during a period when such diagnoses were poorly understood; her mother sought intensive speech therapy and educational support that Temple later credited with enabling her development. She attended Franklin Pierce College, earning a B.A. in psychology in 1970, followed by an M.S. in animal science from Arizona State University in 1975 and a Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989. Grandin’s early interest in animals and sensory experiences led her to study animal behavior and to apply insights from her own sensory-based thinking to livestock handling. She observed that cattle respond to their sensory environment and designed curved chute systems and improved restraint devices to reduce animal stress and improve handling efficiency; these designs were adopted widely in the meat-processing and ranching industries. Grandin became a prominent spokesperson on autism through books such as Emergence: Labeled Autistic and numerous articles, linking her personal experience of autism with cognitive styles and practical recommendations for education and employment of autistic people. She has also written extensively on animal welfare, combining scientific research with practical design guidelines and consulting to slaughterhouses and ranches to reduce fear and improve welfare in livestock. Grandin’s life and work received broader public attention when HBO released the biographical film Temple Grandin in 2010, which earned multiple Emmy Awards and introduced her story to a wide audience; she continues to teach, consult, publish, and speak publicly on both animal welfare and autism/neurodiversity issues.