Please reflect on the following questions from the movie below:
1. Describe briefly, in list form, some of the “abnormal” behaviors that Temple Grandin displays throughout the movie. What makes them “abnormal?” How did different people in her life respond to these behaviors?
Some of the “abnormal” behaviors are the way she thought about things. While everyone saw an object, she would interpret the object completely differently. Also, she was not affectionate and did not touch. She only liked to be touched by other surfaces, like the “squeeze machine” she made. Her mother responded very well raising her because she was a bright lady. Other people, saw her as weird. Her mother saw her as “different.”
2. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association revised the diagnostic criteria in the DSM-V for autism to include a much broader spectrum of symptoms. It now ranges from brilliant scientists, artists, and musicians to an individual who cannot dress himself or herself.
“One of the problems today is for a kid to get any special services in school, they have to have a label. The problem with autism is you’ve got a spectrum that ranges from Einstein to someone with no language and intellectual disability,” says Grandin. “Steve Jobs was probably mildly on the autistic spectrum. Basically, you’ve probably known people who were geeky and socially awkward but very smart. When does geeks and nerds became autism? That’s a gray area.”
–http://www.templegrandin.com/
What do you think some of the pros and cons of diagnosing a person with autism might be? What are the benefits, and potential harms, of such a label?
A pro is that people with autism have a different way of thinking. This could either make them behind, or ahead the way it made Temple. Having a “disadvantage” is something that could be used as an excuse for most people, but Temple used it as a blessing to succeed.
3. To what extent do you think a label of autism changed the expectations that others had for Temple Grandin as she was growing up, if at all? How did the expectations that others had for her influence her life and her career?
I think the label helped people understand why Temple was different, but at the same time socially it did not help her because people did not understand her, and she did not understand how to make connections with others.
4. Who were the people that formed the best relationships with Temple Grandin? What made their relationships with Temple so successful?
Her roommate and her mother had the best relationships with her. Her blind roommate helped her succeed because she too understood what it was like to have a “disadvantage” and they got along very well. Her mother, a highly educated women, helped her push through and socially help her as well.
5. Autism is one of many psychiatric disorders that is discussed in our textbook within the Abnormal Psychology unit. However, this article from Psychology Today states: “many autism advocates have worked hard to frame autism as a developmental or neurological disorder rather than a psychiatric one… [but] it is a difficult debate to resolve because there really is no scientific basis on which to separate a psychiatric disorder from a neurological or developmental one.” Please first read the article, and then write down three big take-aways, questions, or critiques that you have about this debate.
- Scientists are having a hard time locating the source of autism.
- “Autism Speaks currently seems to be trying to avoid this quagmire by now calling autism “a group of complex disorders of brain development.” Such a description is true enough, but the statement seems just as valid for a variety of other diagnoses such as ADHD or even Bipolar Disorder. “
- Labels are something that should not be put on people especially with a “disadvantage.”
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