Why Temple Grandin is Still My Hero
Over the winter holiday I featured an interview that US Autism Advisory Board Member Theresa Wrangham and I had the pleasure of recording last December with Dr. Temple Grandin. The video highlighted some of Dr. Grandin’s personal thoughts and experiences about autism in adults, and for me, it was one of the most enjoyable discussions that I have ever had with Temple, although I’ve had dozens of opportunities to speak with and interview her through the years. But as the video went out across our various social platforms, while most of our viewers loved the content, a handful of people “disliked” the video leading me to a group of Temple Grandin “haters” that apparently began with a blog post titled Why Temple Grandin is NOT My Hero. In this blog, Temple was accused of supporting the eugenics movement for those with more severe autism, as well as being labeled with supporting the discriminatory practice of ableism in her discussions about the need for autistic individuals to “get out there and learn how to work.” For this week’s blog, I’d like to respond to those accusations.
First off, let me share a bit about my history with Dr. Grandin. I’ve personally known Temple for approximately 30 years. I was at the Mapleton Center for Pediatric Rehabilitation when Temple gave one of her very first talks on autism. I was also there when she first spoke at the National Association for Gifted Children on the topic of autism in the gifted. Since, I have spent dozens of hours sitting next to her at various social functions where we engaged in discussions on a variety of topics, and I have heard her speak approximately 50 times. I was also one of only a handful of people that was invited to be part of her new documentary film, An Open Door with Temple Grandin. In fact, I’m even featured on one of the film’s trailers. I’ve also read all her books on autism, spent more than one dinner with Temple, celebrating her birthday, and I’m proud to claim that Temple knows me by first name and answers the phone when I call. If you know Temple, that’s saying something. So, I’d say that I know Temple well and can assure her critics that what they think they know about her opinions on both eugenics and ableism are simply dead wrong.
Temple did say that as a society and within our medical communities we need to figure out how to “get rid of the more severe forms of autism.” But this statement has been taken out of context and misconstrued to mean that Temple supports eugenics for those with severe autism, which she does not. Temple is the world’s leading expert and voice for all individuals across the entire autism spectrum, including those with severe autism. So, when Temple said, “get rid of the more severe forms of autism,” she certainly did not mean get rid of those individuals affected by the more severe forms of autism. She meant instead that we need to treat and find a way to even cure, if possible, the most severe features of the autism condition for those individuals who suffer lifelong with certain aspects and disabling features of their autism.
As examples, I’ve heard Temple talk about the fact that up to 75 percent of individuals with severe forms of autism suffer from seizures. These need to be treated. Over 90 percent of those with severe autism cannot properly digest their food. This also needs to be medically addressed. Last, we don’t even have numbers for the large percentage of those autistic individuals who cannot speak, but we believe are suffering from debilitating and life-long physical pain within their bodies. The cause of this needs to be found and eliminated.
Given the literally hundreds of thousands of families that Temple has spoken to through the years, she certainly sees the profoundly negative effects that autism can have on a life, especially for those who are more severely affected; and she recognizes that for some, autism creates a life of suffering. But when she said we must “get rid of the more severe forms of autism” this is exactly what she meant. We must get rid of the more severe aspects of the condition of autism for those who suffer, so that they can live more happy, healthy, and productive lives. This never meant that she was suggesting we “un-alive” anyone!
On the topic of ableism, Temple, like almost everyone else of her generation, firmly believes that one’s sole purpose in life is to be the best person you can be and find a way to share and contribute what you can to make the world a better place. She has lived her whole life exclusively on this practice. She also grew up in a world where children were raised to know how to work, support themselves to the best of their abilities, and irrespective of one’s strengths or challenges, to ultimately find a way to give something back to society. This is at the heart of who she is. So of course she admires most those individuals, disabled or not, who give more than they take.
The world has changed a lot in 75 years. Younger generations may no longer share the values of hard work and a life of giving back. But to claim that Temple then uses this belief to discriminate against those who are disabled and holds in higher regard those who are not disabled, is absolutely ridiculous. In fact, her beliefs are exactly the opposite of ableism. Because for Temple, being disabled, even severely so, hardly excuses anyone from overcoming their challenges to the best of their ability, becoming the best person they can be, and finding a way to give something back to a desperately discriminatory world. In Temple’s mind, no one is too disabled to contribute something!
So, for all these reasons, Temple Grandin is still my hero. Because the world IS a better place when everyone receives what they need to achieve their fullest potential, which is our motto at US Autism, and when even the most severely disabled among us can be happy, healthy, and included in contributing their unique gifts and talents to the world.