Could You Truly Value a “Temple Grandin?”

Imagine someone in your place of work who has a tendency to get on peoples’ nerves. She utters meaningless phrases at times, talks to herself, is socially distant , and finds it difficult to interact with other employees and clients. Frequently, she finds work too stressful and needs to go off by herself for a while; sometimes for hours at a time. When you ask her about it, she simply describes it as “relief therapy.”
But she is a brilliant, hard worker, who tends to think in pictures, and can recall details that everyone else seems to miss. That is, she perceives and remembers things visually. As she says, language is her second language. She comes up with provocative, ingenious ideas that enable you and your coworkers to problem-solve much more effectively.
Is this someone you would hire or even value at work? While her upside is significant, her lack of social skills is a concern as well. This person, by the way, comes to my mind because I just watched the movie, Temple Grandin.
Temple Grandin is an extremely bright person with autistim. She is a professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Because of her autism, she has skills that have allowed her to do some amazing things. And yet, she has been ostracized and subjected to ridicule and scorn because of her distinctive and unusual behaviors.
How would you relate to her? Are you able to value people like Temple? What about your coworkers? Your friends?
If you have time, spend a couple of hours watching a newly released DVD about this amazing lady. You will be glad you did.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to Could You Truly Value a “Temple Grandin?”

  1. Pingback: Tiere Essen - THE BARGAIN SEEKER

  2. I wanted to thank you for this excellent post!!!! I definitely loved every little bit of it. I have you bookmarked your weblog to check out the latest stuff you post

  3. Lola .A says:

    This is a very interesting situation as an employee i guess it would depend on what the job entails to decide if i would hire her or not. i deffinatly would value someone like her now this doesn’t mean i would understand why she does the things she does but one persons strength is another ones weakness b/c i kno i am not good at recalling things that ive seen in the past. but it sounds like an interseting movie.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *