Divergent paths: Livestock Welfare, Autism Awareness Advocate Addresses 4-H Leaders On Thinking Differently

V. TODD MILLER

 LEESVILLE, LOUISIANA

It isn’t every day that a former Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People of the Year and the subject of an Emmy-winning HBO movie speaks at an LSU AgCenter event. But that is exactly what happened when internationally renowned author, livestock welfare and autism awareness advocate Temple Grandin addressed the Louisiana Association of Extension 4-H Youth Development Professionals last week in Vernon Parish.

Grandin, who designed the center track restrainer system used in processing facilities throughout the world, has seen her invention’s popularity grow to the level that now the curved shoot design is used in production for almost half the beef cattle in North America. The system is meant to reduce animal stress during handling. 

Although referenced in her keynote presentation, the cattle system wasn’t the main topic of her speech. The majority centered around how mentors can better understand and embrace how young minds work in different ways as they mature.

Grandin’s presentation, titled “The World Needs All Kinds of Minds,” sought to empower the 4-H agents to value neurodiversity, determine ways to spark youth interests, develop relationships, offer encouragement and create inclusive environments. 

Grandin, who is autistic herself, emphasized the importance of young people associating with mentors and finding structure in their lives outside of a tablet or computer screen. She presented a slide with all the jobs she has held from age 13 to adulthood.

“They need to start doing a job where somebody else is the boss even if it’s just finding things to do in the neighborhood,” she said. “For me, I got interested in cattle when I was a teenager because that’s what I was exposed to.”

Grandin went on to discuss the simple need for children to get proper exercise. She said that although she is in her 70s, she works out every day whether she feels like it or not.

“A lot of these kids aren’t getting enough exercise. This would help with problems of anxiety,” she said. “I try to do 120 old lady pushups every night. Do I enjoy them? No, I hate them, but I feel a lot better when I do them.”

Esther Boe, Central Region 4-H coordinator, who helped to put the conference together, was thrilled to have Grandin speak to the attendees.

“Our job as 4-H agents is to find out how a child learns and help them engage in their learning, which fits in very well in our world where we teach learning by doing,” Boe said. “The agents in my region worked very hard to fundraise to get the resources in place to have her here to speak today.”

Department head and AgCenter associate director of youth development Todd Tarifa echoed Boe’s sentiments, calling Grandin “a legend in my book.”

“She sees things in pictures and had to fight through special needs and sexism,” he said. “Just to have somebody with this talent, at this level, come to speak to our 4-H agents to inspire them, especially with the new club year starting off, means a lot to us.”   ∆

V. TODD MILLER

LSU AG CENTER

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