Temple Grandin speaks at CSU symposium for autistic students

By: Megan Fischer

Temple Grandin has won seven Emmy awards and is one of Time Magazine's most influential people, and the most well known and successful adult with autism.

On Wednesday, March 23, Colorado State University kicked off a two-day symposium titled, “Transition and Transformation: Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the College Environment.” Grandin was the keynote speaker at this event, and is living proof to students that their autism doesn't have to hinder their chances of success in the world. But, she said, that doesn't mean that it doesn't take hard work to make their autism work for them.

Grandin said that many graduates can't get through a job interview because they see things on a list of requirements that they don't like. Autism or no autism, according to Grandin, that is no excuse.

“Well, I'm sorry, it's called work. And sometimes you gotta do the stuff you don't want to do. Some stuff you're gonna like, and some stuff you're not gonna like.”

It all starts, she said, with having higher expectations for a student, finding a skill that challenges and interests them, and then using that skill to learn other things that might now be a strength for them. She said that the current educational system needs to be doing more for the talented minds of autistic students.

“I'm concerned that our educational system is failing to stimulate and educate the visual and the pattern thinkers. They're getting pushed aside, and we need them. Spatial and visual thinking is being overlooked by educators,” she said.

Kathleen Ivy, a counselor in CSU's Resources for Disabled Students, said that this symposium is so important because it brings a community together to provide a successful educational environment for transitioning students on the autism spectrum. No matter how many resources RDS provides, the students can't do it alone, and that is why this symposium is so important.

“You need respect and understanding for any difference. This is education to help build that,” she said.

Sheila Ferguson, a teacher in residence for the Little Shop of Physics at CSU, who also taught in Poudre School District, attended Grandin's presentation. She said that speakers like Grandin provide inspiration to students who don't think that they a successful future.

“If anyone that has autism or Asberger’s syndrome and sees her engage an audience, that must be a very uplifting thing to know, 'I can do that too.' We need all those different learners, and if we work together you're going to come up with something much better than anything of us on our own,” she said.

The bottom line for Grandin is that with high expectations, hard work, and finding what works for different students, there is no reason that students in the autism spectrum can't excel in higher education, and ultimately, in the professional world.