Temple Grandin… an amazing mind, an amazing person.

Temple Grandin, excuse me – Dr. Temple Grandin,  if you have not heard is a woman with autism who revolutionized the way we work with cattle.  Why are cattle so important if we kill them for food?  “They deserve our respect.”  She has done a lot of work, education and continues to spread awareness about autism and how the mind of someone on the spectrum might work.  She, like she describes thinks not in words, but in pictures.  Like Google Images.  If you say the word, ‘steeple,’  her mind does a function similar to typing in a Google image search: ‘steeple’ and she thinks of all the different types of steeples that she has seen. She recognizes that not all people on the spectrum are the same, but the way she describes it, your mind is opened and you begin to start looking and thinking of things in ways you would not have done before.  I was fortunate to get to hear her speak, meet her and have a book signed by her a few weeks ago, but I am still thinking about some of the things that she said.  If you have the time, it is worth listening or reading about it in her own words, mine do not do her justice.

If you have 20 minutes, it is definitely worth the time to check out her TED talk:

If you have 2 hours, check out her movie, Temple Grandin (I watched it on Amazon):

If you have several hours, definitely check out one of her books (these shown below are only a few of the ones she has published):

    

        

Malala Yousafzai: her father, her book and an inspiring story

So, last night I watched this TED talk of Malala Yousafzai’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai.  He talks about what it is like to be her father and how he raised her.  He says, “Do not ask what I did. Ask what I did not do.  I did not clip her wings, and that is all.”  I really enjoyed this video and thought it came up at an appropriate time with Father’s Day coming up this weekend.

If you have not heard of Malala, she is truly an inspiring young woman.  Raised in Pakistan, where women as fortunate to have schools and education like we do in the US, Malala fought for her right to go to school.  In 2012, at fifteen years old, she was shot in the head by the Taliban because of her advocating for women’s rights in Pakistan.  She survived and last year became the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize.  Her memoir, I am Malala, is her story of learning how to stand up and become an advocate.  She has overcome and stood up to great challenges that many others would have backed down from.  The book provides a lot of history and background to her country and culture, which I personally find fascinating and if you do, too – please check out her book.

“I do not want to be remembered as the girl who was shot.  I want to be remembered as the girl who stood up.” – Malala Yousafzai