I watched these four videos of famous people with unique abilities. Each one greatly held my interest.
-Jonnel Enorme, a world-class skater, born with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, won 3 gold medals, 62 silvers, and 26 bronzes in ice-skating competitions all over the world.
-Roselle Ambubuyog, visually-impaired by accident at age 6 due to a side effect of an over-the-counter drug that her doctor prescribed. She graduated as Summa Cum Laude in Ateneo de Manila University. BS Mathematics!
-Christine Ha, a blind cook, the first ever blind contestant and season 3 winner of the competitive amateur cooking U.S. television show, “MasterChef”, recipient of the 2014 Helen Keller Personal Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind, now an author of several cookbooks, co-host on the Canadian cooking show, “Four Senses”, and a judge on “MasterChef” Vietnam.
But the one that really captivated me was Temple Grandin’s The world needs all kinds of minds. I have been a fan of Grandin ever since my son was diagnosed with autism in 2005. Miggy (my son) was only 2yrs/9months then. (Now he is 13.) I immersed myself in everything about autism. Grandin was well talked about and adored in my circle of “special parents”.
Temple Grandin was diagnosed with autism as a child. In the video, she talks about how her mind works — sharing her ability to "think in pictures," which helps her solve problems that those with neurotypical intellect might fail to perceive. She makes a point that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of “smart nerdy kids”.
The visual thinkers are those who need to "see" things so as to understand them. They are more likely to draw a picture or build an object when trying to work out a problem. Grandin is a visual thinker, she has a photographic memory. Visual thinkers, according to her, can do geometry and trigonometry, but not algebra because there is no way to visualize it.
The pattern thinkers are those whose thoughts are in patterns rather than photo-realistic pictures. They are good at music and math — excellent at calendar calculations, speedy mathematical calculations, map and geography geniuses.
The verbal thinkers or word minds are those who like words and speech. They possess a huge memory for word facts. They love to make lists and will often memorize things such as train timetables & routes, stories in alphabetical order and even mundane things.
This talk by Grandin will make us wonder: What kind of a thinker am I? Although we are not on the spectrum, somehow we try to find an association to Grandin’s theory of the different kinds of thinkers.
With my 13-yr-old son being on the spectrum, I should have figured out by now his preferred learning types that could enable me as both a mom and a teacher to better address his academic needs. He is a visual thinker. He learns quickly when aided with pictures and videos, and lots of repetitions.
Asked what Grandin was most passionate about, to this she answered: “I get satisfaction out of seeing stuff that makes real change in the real world. We need a lot more of that and a lot less abstract stuff.”
Other quotes by Grandin found in her other videos and speeches that I find amazing, interesting, motivating, informative, and humbling are:
- “Let's get into talking about how autism is similar animal behavior. The thing is I don't think in a language, and animals don't think in a language. It's sensory based thinking, thinking in pictures, thinking in smells, thinking in touches. It's putting these sensory based memories into categories.”
- “A treatment method or an educational method that will work for one child may not work for another child. The one common denominator for all of the young children is that early intervention does work, and it seems to improve the prognosis.”
- “Mild autism can give you a genius like Einstein. If you have severe autism, you could remain nonverbal. You don't want people to be on the severe end of the spectrum. But if you got rid of all the autism genetics, you wouldn't have science or art. All you would have is a bunch of social 'yak yaks.'”
- “When I was younger, I was looking for this magic meaning of life.”
- “There needs to be a lot more emphasis on what a child can do instead of what he cannot do.”
- “I don’t want my thoughts to die with me, I want to have done something. I’m not interested in power, or piles of money. I want to leave something behind. I want to make a positive contribution - know that my life has meaning.”
- “Animals make us Human.”
- “Different, not less.”
Just now, while doing this paper, I downloaded her movie “Temple Grandin” portrayed by actress Claire Danes, which I hope that I will be able to force my husband to watch with me someday when he's free. A review by Danes herself says: " I don't think I have ever been as inspired by any character that I have played. I was deeply moved by Temple's courage and her resourcefulness. She is really pioneering in both the world of autism and animal rights. She has encouraged an incredibly positive change in the world."
