Temple Grandin, PhD, (born August 29, 1947) is an associate professor at Colorado State University and arguably the most accomplished and well-known adult with 'high functioning' autism in the world. Grandin is also a world renowned professional designer of humane livestock facilities.

Grandin became well-known after being described by Oliver Sacks in the title narrative of his book, An Anthropologist on Mars, the title derived from Grandin's description of how she feels around 'neurotypical' people. Grandin has also been featured on major television programs, such as ABC's Primetime Live, the Today Show, and Larry King Live, and written up in Time magazine, People magazine, Forbes, and the New York Times. *
She was the subject of an Horizon documentary "The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow", first broadcast by the BBC* on June 8 2006

Based on personal experience, she advocates early intervention and supportive teachers who can direct fixations of the autistic child to fruitful directions. She has described her hypersensitivity to noise and other sensory stimuli. She is a primarily visual thinker and has said language is her second language. Temple attributes her success as a livestock designer to her ability to recall detail which is a characteristic of her visual memory. Grandin compares her memory to full length movies in her head that can be replayed at will, allowing her to notice small details that would otherwise be overlooked. She is also able to view her memories using slightly different contexts by changing the positions of the lighting and shadows. Her insight into the minds of cattle have taught her to value the changes in details to which animals are particularly sensitive, and to use her visualization skills to design thoughtful and humane animal handling equipment. She regularly takes anti-depressants and uses a squeeze-box (hug machine) she invented at the age of 18.


Grandin is considered a philosophical leader of both the animal welfare and autism advocacy movements. Both movements commonly cite her work regarding animal welfare, neurology, and philosophy. She knows all too well the anxiety of feeling threatened by everything in her surroundings, and of being dismissed and feared, all of which motivates her in her quest to promote humane livestock handling processes. Her business website has entire sections on how to improve standards in slaughter plants and livestock farms.

One of her most important essays about animal welfare is 'Animals are not Things', in which she posits animals are technically property in our society, but the law ultimately gives them ethical protections or 'rights'. She uses a 'screwdriver' metaphor by saying a person can legally smash or grind up a screwdriver but a person cannot legally torture an animal.