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Thousands Hear Dr. Temple Grandin Speak at O’Reilly Family Event Center

By: Kaitlyn Schwers

Upon meeting Dr. Temple Grandin, she identifies herself as a college professor and a scientist. Her accomplishments include a various number of written books, but her biggest was creating a new system for cattle before they are slaughtered. This system has now become adapted for over half of the cattle in the United States.  One might not guess that she is also autistic.

Drury University presented her as a convocation speaker on March 3. Audience members ranged from Drury students, staff, and faculty in addition to members of the surrounding community.

“Dr. Grandin is a teacher, an author, an entrepreneur, and an inspiration,” President Todd Parnell said as he introduced her.

Grandin was well received by the 2,500 audience members that strongly applauded her presentation on various topics. She expressed her thoughts on how she deals with autism, her accomplishments, and the four types of minds. However, she also stated her concerns with today’s education and the lack of science teachers in high schools and hands-on classes.

To create success, Grandin believes visual, pattern, verbal, and auditory thinkers must collaborate. “The world needs different types of minds to work together,” Grandin said.

While Grandin was at Drury, she also brought along hundreds of copies of one of her newest books, Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism. Her books are available to purchase online at www.templegrandin.com.