Re: Temple Grandin movie on HBO

[Guest guest]

For those in parts of Illinois (and perhaps other places as well?), the Temple

Grandin movie is also on On Demand.  Phenomenal performances all the way

around.  I watched the movie with a friend several months back when it was

originally on HBO - a friend for years who has been there through thick and thin

with me and Josh.  He's not on the spectrum, as I've written before, but he has

such sensory issues.  My friend has seen them, experienced them, but she said

she truly did not understand them until she saw the movie.  Amazing movie.

 

Sherry and Josh

From: kiddietalk <kiddietalk@...>

Subject: [ ] Temple Grandin movie on HBO

Date: Wednesday, August 18, 2010, 11:39 PM

 

As we know the diagnosis autism has morphed much over the years- Dr. Temple

Grandin who was born in 1947 brings to light what it's like to live with autism.

The movie Temple Grandin was just released August 17 on DVD and has been

nominated for 15 Emmy awards. It will be on NBC August 29

http://www.hbo.com/movies/temple-grandin/index.html

And here is a BBC documentary on Grandin that is very well done that features

the real life Temple.

Part 1

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-iy7GNsmm0 & feature=related

Part 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDWH_Sfnoc0 & feature=related

Part 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epwa0zQ8jx8 & feature=related

Part 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aidkSBsyDlA & feature=related

I wonder if she was a late talker because she couldn't talk or didn't want to

-she does not appear to have any speech impairment today and as we know speech

impairments are overcome but don't just go away.

I also find it interesting that her favorite animal in the world, the one she

relates to and understands, cattle, an animal that she finds so peaceful, how

she is intimately involved in watching them slaughtered one after another on a

cattle slaughter assembly line on what would seem to be an ongoing pretty much

daily basis. I mean I know she's helped develop what some believe to be more

humane ways of slaughtering cattle, or at least as they don't get into how they

actually kill them in the above documentary but what is believed to be a more

humane path to them being slaughtered (because they don't moo I think was the

way they can tell?), but in the documentary I find it odd that from what I see

nobody asks her what her feelings are about watching the cattle be led to their

death through the more humane path she created for them. I wonder why nobody

asks her if she ever gets or even once got attached to any of the cattle

previous to them being

slaughtered. Does she ever cry or is it all in a day's work to her? Or since

she calls the path the cattle walk to where they are slaughtered Stairway to

Heaven does she believe they are going to a better place?

=====

[Guest guest]

I know I've heard great things about the movie but I tend to gravitate to the

actual Temple Grandin as she is still alive (and well Here's another great

TED show to watch online which is a seminar by her, she's a fascinating

individual -I learned so much from it and love her vision for children diagnosed

with autism

http://www.ted.com/talks/temple_grandin_the_world_needs_all_kinds_of_minds.html

It's funny because some of her descriptions of autism however (thinking in

pictures for example) I relate to and I'm probably as far from autistic as one

can be...but as an artist I think and dream in actual pictures, imagine things

that don't exist in my mind...so is that autism? Or is that creativity? And

I'm great at creating and bad at math too...so again does that make one

autistic?!! ..and again with sensory issues one can have them due to injury,

illness, and other diagnosis outside of autism and not have autism. Some of her

diagnostic symptoms can fit an artist or others without autism including geeks

-are all geeks carrying the autism gene? I don't think so but that's her

opinion...the key to me still lies in social deficits.

I agree with her again however that these children need a chance to rise up and

we as parents and professionals have to stop thinking that just because a child

doesn't talk, or talk fast or well enough for you, that doesn't mean he or she

is lazy, slow, or has a receptive or processing disorder, or learning

disability. I'd love to hear more from Temple's mother as we do in the BBC

documentary as I'd love to know how she bucked against what society felt she

should do with her daughter back in the 40s and 50s- and how she dealt with her

husband, and of course I credit her mother to why Temple overcame because

clearly the sad part is how many " Temple Grandin " type autistic individuals were

institutionalized or put into special classes that provide little to no hope of

getting up to speed -only to fall through the cracks.

I guess I don't just watch a movie and think of things the way others do...and

in that sense -something else I share in common with Temple -but unlike Temple

I've always been very social -again I think that's the root of the difference.

I don't think just because you are a thinker and inventor that's the autism

gene- because I am a thinker and an inventor and think in pictures like her.

And based on how she looks and dresses I'd say I am caught up in stuff she'd

find silly such as hair and makeup and fashion- and I don't have sensory issues

-so in those regards we are different. But again just her opinion on what

autism is -and if it helps keep children in the mainstream that belong there

-well then call me autistic!

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