Every Tuesday this month, I’ll post a link to one of my articles along with the backstory about how the piece came to be.
When I saw the HBO film “Temple Grandin,” I knew the movie’s namesake would make an excellent SmartPlanet Q&A subject. Grandin, a renowned animal scientist, is perhaps the world’s best known person with autism. She’s used some of the traits that make her different (most notably her ability to think in pictures) to find success in a meaningful career.
It took a few tries to catch Grandin on the phone. When I reached her, she was driving from her field station in Colorado. And as you’ll see below, she was one of the few interview subjects to turn the tables on me.
Sherwood: For those of us who think in language, can we train our minds to be more like Google Images?
Grandin: When I ask you to think about a church steeple, how does it come into your mind?
Sherwood: I see an image of a general church steeple.
Grandin: That’s what most people get. Most people get an image of a general one. But if you push yourself, you can see specific ones. For me, I have no general one. I have a slide [I prepared for a talk] with a drawing of a steeple. That’s what I see as a general one. But that’s still specific. Let’s see if you can push yourself. If you push yourself, can you start seeing specific ones?
Sherwood: I can see a few church steeples in my town.
Grandin: That’s right. You’ve got to push yourself to do it, whereas I don’t think any other way.
You can read the full interview here.
Image by a.love photography