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By Diana Costello • dcostell@lohud.com • September 8, 2010
PLEASANTVILLE — Just days after a film based on her life story earned HBO five Emmy Awards, Temple Grandin took the stage at Pace University to impart her own words of wisdom to an enraptured crowd of roughly 3,000 students and fans.
And she had plenty to say.
In succinct bursts, the accomplished advocate for those with autism spoke out on a range of topics including her disdain for derivatives trading, the need for more science teachers in high school, the faults of modern health care and the outsourcing of creative labor.
She even disparaged President Barack Obama’s Labor Day call to upgrade the nation’s roads, rail lines and runways to help spur job creation, saying it should have been done two years ago.
One thing she didn’t do as the keynote speaker for the convocation event was boast.
“We need to get back into doing real stuff,” she said, railing against ideology.
As a woman who grew up with autism during a time when it was gravely misunderstood, Grandin today is one of the world’s most famous activists and successful professionals with the developmental disorder.
Drawing on her own abilities as an extremely visual learner — “Without a picture, I can’t think,” she said — Grandin has been a pioneer in the understanding of animals, designing humane handling systems that are used in half of the nation’s cattle-processing facilities.
This winter, HBO aired a feature-length film on her early years starring actress Claire Danes.
Titled “Temple Grandin,” the film received five awards at the Aug. 29 Emmys, including “Outstanding Made for Television Movie” and “Best Actress in a Drama.”
Grandin made no mention of winning the awards while speaking at Pace, though she did praise Danes and others involved for capturing her story so accurately.
“Temple Grandin is an inspiration to every single person in this room,” said Pace University President Stephen J. Fiedman. “Just imagine being born in a world of people who don’t think like you.”
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