Temple Grandin – Gabe Feathers McGee

Happy International Asperger’s Day everyone 🙂

I’ve been blogging about Asperger’s Syndrome for the past few days and today, the 18th February is the day.

My son is very excited that he has a day dedictated to him. He said to me ‘at last I am getting the respect I deserve’ – haha.

He is adorable and will be getting some treats today – we are going out for dinner and he will get a whole hour on the computer (up from his usual 1/2 hour). His sister is a little jealous 😉

Today I am posting a video of the wonderful Temple Grandin, an inspirational women with Asperger’s Syndrome who lectures all over the world (and had a movie made about her life). She is an expert on the design of cattle management systems as well as autism. This video is a must see. She explains things in a way that is so much better than reading about this stuff.

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Written for International Asperger’s Day 2011 (18th February)

Autism Heroes

Many people on the Autism spectrum (which includes Asperger’s Syndrome) have reached dizzy heights in their chosen career or creative endeavour.

There is a wonderful book for children (aged 8-12) on the autism spectrum called Different like me: my book of autism heroes by Jennifer Elder. It is very inspiring.

The book describes the lives of famous/inspirational people who had/have autism or who probably would have been diagnosed with autism if they had lived in this day and age. These people excelled in the world of science, art, literature, maths, comedy and philosophy. They all had great difficulty fitting in, but still managed to achieve great things.

It is beautifully illustrated by Marc Thomas and Jennifer Elder.

The book outlines the lives of:

Albert Einstein
Dian Fossey
Andy Warhol
Benjamin Banneker
Andy Kaufman
Wassily Kandinsky
Julia Bowman Robinson
Piat Mondrian
Alan Turing
Sophie Germain
Lewis Carroll
Isaac Newton
Nikola Tesla
Paul Erdos
Glenn Gould
Immanual Kant
Barbara McClintock
Joseph Cornell
Hans Christian Andersen
Temple Grandin

The biographies include some of their autistic characteristics. For instance, Albert Einstein didn’t speak until 3 and didn’t speak well until at least 9. He was not considered very smart by his teachers and got thrown out of one school. But he had an intense interest in all things physics and went on to develop his famous theories of space and time.

Temple Grandin says ‘this book will help inspire kids who are different and show them that they too can succeed’ .

I would recommend this book for all children, but particularly those with autism, as well as a terrific resource for teachers, parents/carers, siblings.

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Written for this Friday’s International Asperger’s Day 2011