Temple Grandin at Third Place Books, N Seattle

I didn't make it because my work ran too long but I've seen Temple Grandin, PhD (high-functioning, diagnosed autistic - specialist in autism literature and treatment and in humane treatment of animals destined for slaughter/equipment designer with astounding visualization abilities & atypical intelligence) 3x and read all of her books (plus the one by Oliver Sacks with a chapter on her) except for the last one.Here is a review by my friend Alan, who was there:

Ever heard of an Animal Behaviorist by the name of Dr. Temple Grandin ?   Professor at a Colorado College.  And has  had Asberger's Syndrome from birth .  Fascinating person . Knowledgeable  in the full spectrum of childhood developmental conditions of Asberger's thru Autism .  We were [ last night] at a book review by her of her current book [ has many publications ]    " ANIMAL'S MAKE US HUMAN " . Standing room only. Ton's of Animal Rights Folks along with Special Ed Teachers and Families impacted by this developmental concern.  Very high functioning woman and entertaining  .  Plus a lively audience ....

Temple has designed livestock facilities all over the planet and is by now pretty well known. She is an Associate Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University and has her own company. In interviews, she describes being both helped and hindered by her autism, as it affects verbal and also nonverbal communication (receptive and expressive) and involves atypical cognitive strategies. (She is a 3-D visualizer to a degree which most of us can't conceive.) 

In Temple's case, aptitudes and obsessive interests that she had were capitalized on in her vocations. It started as she didn't like the treatment of animals that she witnessed in connection with various livestock operations, and also was aware of her own hypersensitivities to sound and touch. She also counsels against excessive video game use for autistic kids, which become "drugs for the eyes" (ie. are easy/relaxed to perceive compared to possibly confusing speech/sound-dominated input.) 

(Some of this is my interpretation, as autism and autistic people are important in my life and sphere of interests. I am possibly not on the spectrum but highly visual, impatient with certain other stimuli and relate.)                                                                                      ( speaking as Dr. Slugbug)