Autism advocate and animal behavior expert Temple Grandin will speak at a joint event held by the Roslyn Special Education Parent Teacher Association and the Bryant Library of Roslyn as part of Autism Awareness Month in April, the Roslyn school district announced this week.
Grandin is known for her trailblazing work in neurodiversity advocacy and animal behavior. She first gained attention for her creation of a “squeeze machine,” also known as a “hug box,” which was inspired by squeeze chutes where cattle would be placed to calm them during inoculations.
Grandin, who sought deep pressure stimulation as a child but felt overstimulated when hugged or held by another person, then created her own version in her senior year of high school with the help of her science teacher, and used it until 2010 to relieve her own anxiety. The device was later used in therapy programs for a similar purpose.
Today, she is a prominent author, speaker and a professor of animal science at Colorado State University. Previously, Grandin had a successful career consulting on livestock handling equipment design and animal welfare, advocating for humane treatment of livestock for slaughter.
She completed undergraduate work at Franklin Pierce College, received her master’s degree at Arizona State University and was awarded her Ph.D. in animal science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Additionally, Grandin has authored or co-authored numerous books and peer-reviewed papers on the subjects of animal science and autism. Her life was made into a 2010 HBO film, where actress Claire Danes won an Emmy Award for portraying her.
Grandin has also been inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame, the Texas Trail of Fame, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, among other honors.
The event will take place on Monday, April 19, at 7 p.m. Live viewing is limited to the first 500 participants. However, the presentation will be recorded and posted on the district website after the chat. Interested parties can submit questions for Grandin by April 13 to [email protected].
6/9/2021
Thanks for making this information public 8 weeks after the event. I believe Mary Temple Brandon is also gay or transgender. But that’s really irrelevant, just politically accurate or correct now. What really steams me is that this belated public announcement really represents is that the rich really don’t want the poor involved in their ?? world. Shame on you !