Temple Grandin

Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autism at the age of three.

An intelligent child with a thirst for knowledge, but unable to properly express herself (she communicated up to the age of three with only screams and humming) to control her behaviour, Temple struggled through grade school. Eventually moved from a "normal" school to an educational programme for autistic children, she began to suffer "nerve attacks."

Despite the skills and deficits inherent in her autism, Temple manages to commune with animals particularly livestock, (better than she does with humans by her own account), and develops handling facilities with her inimitable understanding of animals' behaviours, preferences and requirements.

She is now a world leader in her field as a livestock handling equipment designer. She has designed the facilities in which 50% the cattle are handled in the US as well as Canada, Europe, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia.

Now Temple works as an Associate Professor at Colorado State University and also speaks around the world on both autism and cattle handling.

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Temple Grandin talks to More4 about her emotions

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