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2:32am July 12, 2014

noreallyimaspork:

We watched the Temple Grandin biopic yesterday in class. I was really impressed; it didn’t strike me as inspiration porn at all (kudos to whoever came up with that term, by the way). It was just a film showcasing the life of an incredible person and her campaign to carve a wide enough path through the world’s ignorance for her brilliance to shine through too brightly to be ignored. And, for once, I didn’t mind seeing a neurotypical actor in a neuroatypical role. It wasn’t a character created based on shallow stereotypes, it was a (very good, I thought) portrayal of an actual person, mannerisms and all. I really want to know what Grandin thought of it.

But I’m not writing this because I saw a good movie and wanted to talk about it. After it was over and we started to leave the teacher held me back. She wanted to hear my thoughts on the film because, she said, I remind her of Temple.

I don’t know if that means I don’t pass as well as I think I do or because she thinks I’m intelligent, but either way that made me glow with pride.

Heh.

When I was first diagnosed, they didn’t tell me I was autistic.

Instead, the doctor said, “You remind me of a woman I know.  She thinks in pictures.  She designs livestock handling facilities.  And she can make the diagrams move in her head so that she can test everything without having to actually physically go out and look at it.”  And I was thinking “Uh… so what, that doesn’t sound like me?”  It took me ages to figure out he meant Temple Grandin, and to read her books.  I still don’t identify with her as much as I identify with say, Donna Williams, or Lucy Blackman, or Tito Mukhopadhyay, but I do see why he saw a resemblance.