Welcome to Why Not Me, embracing autism and mental health worldwide, hosted by Tony Mietour, broadcasting from the heart of Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join us as our guest share their raw, howlful stories. Long, close-mark laughter, others will move you to tears. These real-life journeys inspire, connect, and remind you that you're never alone. We're igniting a global movement to empower everyone to make a lasting difference by fostering deep awareness, unwavering acceptance, and profound understanding of autism and mental health. Tune in, be inspired, and join us in transforming the world one story at a time. Hi, I'm Tony Mietour. Welcome to Why Not Me, embracing autism and mental health worldwide. We're taking a break over the holidays and want to share some of our favorite moments from the past couple of years. With that said, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. One of my favorite episodes was with Temple Grandin. The first of a two-part series that launched my second year of broadcasting is a true standout, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. As many of you know, Temple is one of the world's most renowned autistic women with a remarkable list of achievements. We don't have time to cover them all here, but it's an honor to feature her on this show. So before we dive into our episode, we'll be back with an uninterrupted show right after a word from our sponsors. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, the pleasure saw mine. So one of my first questions I'd like to ask is, you was diagnosed at an early age, and it was about, I think, three years before you could start talking. What's one of your first childhood memories, and what does it mean to you? Well, I actually got into therapy by two and a half years old. Okay. And I didn't get full speech until four. Okay. Now, I'm slow to respond and slow in my speech until about age five. Okay. And I can remember the absolute frustration not being able to communicate. Okay. And I would pitch a big tantrum because I couldn't tell people how I, if I wanted something right. And I remember the day I didn't want to wear a hat. And I just was screaming and throwing it out the car. I wouldn't know if we were driving to the speech therapy school. Okay. And the first thing you've got to do is give these little kids a way to communicate. Sure. You know, it's just a picture board, but something. Right. So they communicate some needs like they need to use a toilet. Right. They're hot. They're cold. They'll just basic things like that. Okay. So now you just mentioned school. Once you have the ability to speak and communicate the way that you wanted to, then you transition to school. So how was your school experience? The transition into a small, local school into a normal first kindergarten class at age five. Okay. And when for half a day, it was very small. And that was important. I would not have worked in a 30-kid classroom. I would have had, I've had an aide and mother and the teacher worked together. Okay. The rules were the same at home and school really, really good. I had a tantrum like in first or second grade. There would be no television that night, whether it happened to school or it happened at home. And I was very good at art. Okay. And my mother always encouraged my ability at art. Okay. And I'd draw the same horses head over and over again and mother so I'll draw the whole horse. Then she'd encourage using other media to pencil like maybe water color paints, doing different. Always a broadening. You know, if a kid is fixated on a certain type of truck, then let's, uh, there's more other kinds of trucks. There's other trains other than Thomas to tank engine. You want to broaden it. And you can tap into that fixation, but broaden and develop the area of strength. I, and so I had a good time in elementary school. High school is a disaster of bleeding and teasing, just a disaster. And the reason I got through the primary school or elementary school without bullying is Mrs. Teach, the head teacher told the other students that I had a disability that was not visible like a wheelchair. Okay. They explained back to the other children. Okay. So I managed to get through, uh, six grade up to 12 years old, right. Not being bullied. Okay. And high school was just horrible. And the only places I was not bullied was where there was a shared interest. I was, I played, just picked up volleyball on, and then I got, then I got kicked out of a regular school for throwing a book at a girl. I was actually going to ask you about that. Went to a special high school. I was a terrible student, so they put me to work on taking care of the horse barn cleaning stalls every day. But if I went riding with my friend, then I was not bullied. Okay. Friends who shared interest, I cannot emphasize enough. My sieste had a model rocket club. Okay. You know, today it's going to be robotics club. Sure. But the kind of places where a child would not be bullied. Friends who shared interest, super important. Okay. You brought up your teen years and being in high school. So that's one of the toughest times is during the high school years, and especially for females. It's a worst part of my life. Absolutely worst part of my life. I had a reporter to ask me, what would you tell your younger self? I tell my teenage self, oh, after your teenage years, things will get a lot better. Okay. So during your formative years, did anything happen or what did that do to help you become what you are today? When you say four of the years, I mean, younger school years. Probably your teen years between 13 and 19. Well, I was very good at building things. I did a lot of that kind of activity. Okay. One thing I learned, those at the point, so to learn how to work, a lot of autistic kids today are not learning work skills. Okay. I'm not the fact that basic goals and charge of the school's horse barn. Okay. I clean stalls. I put them in and out. I fed them. Okay. A lot of autistic kids aren't learning work skills. I'm seeing too many fully verbal smart autistic teenagers who have never gone shopping. They've never ordered food in a restaurant. They don't have a bank account. Okay. But to learn these skills. Sure. And they're not being taught. Okay. So you managed to get through your high school years. Then after that, you found your way going to college. Yes. So how was the transition from high school to college? How did that work out? Oh, way much better. My science teacher went on some high school. That motivated me to study. Now, I couldn't do higher math. One of these visual thinkers can't do higher math. I failed the SAT and algebra. Okay. I went into college on probation. But at this point, I had decided to turn it around and study. I was motivated now to study. Okay. And that failed. My first math quiz. I got tutoring and I managed to get through it with a ton of tutoring. Then I majored in psychology to avoid the math classes. And I had some bullying even in college. Wow. And while the things that helped me, I think it was in my junior year or so. There was a big variety show that my college put on. I went to small college and only had 500 few hundred students. Okay. And I went and that's where I had a show that they had. And I made a scenery for it and I sang a silly song. That helped my social life a whole lot. Okay. That's a shared interest. I can't emphasize that enough. And then I went out to my aunt's ranch. That got me up. But I was going out there, even when I was in high school. But I can't emphasize enough exposing these kids to enough different things. While they get interested in the things that could become a career. Right. Am I a cattle exposure all started as teenager? Okay. So you learned by being around cattle on farms while you was a teenager. And then that grew and you went to college. When did you decide that this was going to be a calling and how did that happen? Well, I've then started to the year towards a master's degree in experimental psychology. That did not work out. Okay. I went over to the animal science department and ran into a professor named Philip style. Okay. I got a thank fill up for getting me into that. He let me go on field trips with his food technology class. Even though it wasn't enrolled in class. He was one of these professors that were teaching was his primary thing. Right. And he helped me make the switch. I got a really thank him for doing that. Okay. I got a thank Mr. Carlock, my science teacher. I can't emphasize how important these mentors are. And you see by this time I got decent grades. I was serious. Right. And I got a C-N statistics. I had to be tutor. I had another graduate student tutor me. Okay. And one of the things I did right is when I failed my first quiz, I got help. Okay. So many students today wait until they're failing the end of the course before they ask for help. Right. I asked for help when I failed the first quiz. Okay. So now you've made the transition into the cattle. When did you start to realize that this just may be your calling to help change the way people thought about treating cattle humanely? Well, first of all, I just was interested in designing equipment. Now, one out every feed yard and I worked cattle and I saw good things in the designs, bad things in the designs. And I kind of thought I could design a self-managing cattle handling system. Okay. And then for another thing I did, my job standpoint, it was really good. Okay. Is a scene in the temple brand in HBO movie where I get the lot, the editors card from our local state farm magazine. Okay. And I start writing for that magazine. That was very important for my career. And I had the guts to go up and get the card. Okay. A lot of people wouldn't have had. And you know, why I had the guts because in the 50s. Right. Elementary school kids at self candy for charity. Yes. Yeah, they talk to people. Elementary kids in those seven or eight years old in my generation. When the parents had a party, you put your good clothes on and you greeted the guests and you're a little host and hostess. Right. That time going up the people and talking to them. That's so good. I'm really glad that you brought up your HBO movie. Hollywood has a reputation at some times of putting some things in that just embellished the facts a little bit. Are you happy with the HBO movie they did and was it pretty true? What really happened during your life? Let's talk about the stuff that's absolutely accurate. Okay. It shows visual thinking absolutely accurately. Also discussed visual thinking in my book early autobiography, thinking of pictures. I've got another book that just came out on visual thinking. My visual thinking is shown accurately in that movie. All right. And the projects I designed are all accurate. Most of the things are really accurate. The main people and at the ranch, Mr. Carl, I can, my mother are shown very nicely. Okay. That's on the most important stuff. Yeah, they had a wild horse and that was kind of excessively crazy. But the things that were really important were accurate. Also, Claire Dades, perfectly imitated my voice and mannerisms. I gave her every ancient VHS tape I could find for her study. Okay. So once they did the movie and it was out there, your life got exposed more to the world. How did that change your life and what happened after the movie came out? Well, that whole busier was speaking engagements. Sure. And I have, I was just out now. And I know I had some parents come to me. I think I'm talking in the airport. Right. Tell me that they heard one of my talks 10 years ago, what read one of my books 10 years ago and their kid is doing really well in a job and they thanked me. Yeah. One of the problems I'm seeing on the fully verbal end of the autism spectrum is parents do too much for their kids overprotect. All right. They aren't learning enough basic skills. Okay. Like, okay. Like ask their question at the conference. Mom will start to ask the question and I go, give them my clear son. Yeah. And I get that son that talked to the whole room. Right. Ask his question. Yeah. That's awesome. That's building upon the person. Yeah. Yes. And I'm so glad that you brought that up. I've spoken with so many parents over the last year. And the common statement that I get is that they have to love their kids unconditionally and show them that they can have a decent life. I think you're the perfect example to show this. You've written books. You've gone to college. You're one of the top 10 professors in the country. You do public speaking around the world. You change the complete industry of cattle and you have the documentary about your life. People look at you as such an inspiration. I had one autistic woman tell me that you're her hero because of all the things that you do. So I think what you've done shows all these people that may have gone through or are going through some of the same things that you have. You give them hope because you did it so they feel they can. So that's that's true. And the thing is there's some accommodations you do need. OK. And one of the things that work. This really important. I cannot remember long verbal sequences of information. OK. So if I have to work at Walmart and I have to close out the cash register, please give me a pilot's checklist. OK. With the steps to close out the cash register. Right. They'll written bullet point directions, save a lot of jobs. OK. That's great. So now I'm really glad that you brought up the topic about jobs. I was speaking to a person just last week. And he was telling me that in the autistic world, at least 70 to 80% are either unemployed or under employed. That's true. So what can we as a society do to help them integrate into the workforce and show these people that are actually hiring that autistic people can contribute to their bottom line? Well, the autism comes in three types. Right. What? What? The object visualizer like me who thinks in photo ballistic pictures, which are shown in the movie, we're good at mechanical things, anything mechanical, art, photography, and animals. Then you have a mathematical type that thinks in patterns. And then you have a word thinker that's very, very good with facts about their favorite subject. Now, I worked with a lot of people who were definitely autistic, owned metal fabrication shops. OK. And they were inventing a mechanical equipment. But these are people my age, my generation. And I have grandads and grandmums come out to me all the time where they were employed in good jobs because they learned how to work at an early age. They had paper routes. OK. And we put to find substitutes for paper routes. Right. We're working for somebody outside the family. OK. Like maybe a church volunteer job. OK. We're walking the neighbor's dog. Yeah. Or helping out at the farmers market. Something that some because a lot of the fully verbal ones were employed. I think one of the worst things they did in some of the school was taking out hands-on classes. Yeah, I agree. That taught a lot of people a lot of good trades. And I discussed that in visual thinking. It's from my kind of thinker. Right. But then half the people that build computers and all that kind of stuff are probably on the spectrum. Yeah. And program computers. They are the mathematical side of it. And then you have the word thinker. And where those people can be really good. And there's been some real successes is specialized retail. Because they'll memorize every car on the lot and help somebody buy the right car. Not the most expensive car, the right car. Sure. And there's been some big successes with auto dealerships, really big successes on selling sporting goods, selling specialized business insurance, selling specialized banking products. I did a top of the bank and something that's highly specialized and their knowledge is appreciated by the customer. Yes, that's so true. Now that is one thing that I have taught with numerous people. And that is about people that are so focused and how they will dig in and learn everything they can about that particular subject. That's right. So what can we do as a society to help people that are that focused and are willing to put the time in to learn and make that transition into the workforce? Well, we need to be where we're really falling down on the job front. I'm seeing students graduating with honors from college and not handle the workplace. Right. Because they never had any working skills. Now, I, Yoli, I'd like to have two summer jobs under that belt before they graduate my school. Okay. And I want to emphasize, it's never too late to start. But the sudden, you know, okay, all of a sudden we throw them into the workplace. That's not going to work. The other thing we need to be doing is let's just get rid of all the interviews and things like that and work on back doors into jobs. Okay. I sold jobs. I learned to sell my work. Here's one of my drawings right here that's in thinking and pictures. Okay. I would show off my work. I learned to sell my work rather than myself. Sure. Well, that makes perfect sense. That's what I did. And the thing is we need the skills. Right. Right now we've got a huge skill loss situation in people that can fix mechanical equipment and invent mechanical equipment. Like for example, you want to build a chicken processing plant. You've got to buy the equipment from a Holland. Right. Oars back to ninth grade, a kid can pick university or pick tech. We stick our nose off the tech. Yeah. Unfortunately, that's so true. And there's a lot of stuff we're not building. Lots of food processing equipment comes out italy. Right. And these are for the visual type of person like me, those are perfect jobs. Then you have the Silicon Valley computer type jobs good for the math and mathematicians. Right. Now I've seen some bad stuff just recently elementary school, fourth grade or third grader. Make them do baby math over and over again. They get bored and they turn into behavior problem. Right. That kid that's a brainiac and math needs to move to head in math. Right. Absolutely. I'll make them do boring baby math. Move them ahead. Yes. Yes. They might need help in reading, but move them ahead in math. It comes down to common sense. They were losing common sense. Yes. I totally agree. And I think common sense is visual thinking. OK. But we have a school system now that's screening out visual thinkers. Right. I don't, some states I couldn't graduate my high school because I can't pass a health program never have. Yeah. Right. That totally makes sense. So once we get past that, we have another big issue for autistic people and that's housing. Everyone I talk with in just about every state says that housing for autistic people is so slim and it's a real big issue for everyone. Well, there's a big problem with enough low income housing. That's a huge problem like in the fancy ski resorts. Right. People run the lifts and stuff like that. They can't afford the housing. Right. These are non-autistic people can't afford the housing. Yeah. Exactly. And, and then I read a hideous article just the other day about these investors buy up a whole bunch of apartment buildings and using computerized systems. They've picked tenants. I was just about a very angry one of reds. You're stealing. Yeah. Different states have different ages, but usually between 18 and 21, they age out for being able to get help. That's right. So how can we help those that are diagnosed at a later time in life to learn? Because I had one lady that she said she was diagnosed like around 45 and she said, I lost four decades of my life because it took me three to five years to figure it out. And then 50s was great. And she just turned 16. She's had a great, great 10 years. So how do we help those that feel alone and feel feel kind of cast out? Well, the ones that are diagnosed later in life, I have a book called Different Not Less for 18 and people diagnosed later and I've tell about their experiences. Okay. He's all had jobs, all different kinds of jobs. Yes. Helped with relationships. That's where the diagnosis really, really made a difference. Their relationships became a whole lot easier. Sure. And that's something that's really important. Yeah. I think that's very important because I think one of the things they need to learn is that they don't need to be forced into society. They can fit into it all by themselves. Well, that's right. And another problem is I had horrible issues with anxiety, which I discussed in my earlier book, Thinking and Pictures. Okay. And I've been on anti-depressant medication for 40 years. Okay. And all this stress-related health issues I had with colitis and stuff cleared up. And I would recommend if you have a lot of anxiety to read the chapter in here about the medication. Because I don't think I'd even be alive today if I hadn't gone on the right medication. Now, way too many drugs are given out to little kids. It's disgusting. Absolutely. Well, a little bit of the right thing can sometimes really make a difference because my problem with the constant anxiety was biologic. Okay. And my fear system was just turned on for no reason. Right. Biological. Right. So now I'm really glad that you brought up the anxiety because that kind of leads me into my next question for you. This concerns a very serious issue and unfortunately affects a lot of autistic people around the world. The numbers are staggering on this and we have to do something about it because if we don't change this, then everything we've talked about doesn't matter. I have read that autistic people make up 1% of the total population in the world. An alarming 66% of the people have thought about this with 11% actually following through with it, which makes it the second most leading cause of death among autistic people in the world. And that's unfortunately suicide. How can we as a society help them so that they can change everything and look at life a little differently so they can have a better life without all the anxiety? Well, getting a man to decent jobs because I work 25 years and have the construction. Okay. It's what a fan 70s, 80s and 90s. I was out on construction projects, supervising installation of equipment that I had designed. Right. Working with people that owned shops that were autistic. Okay. And they had decent jobs. And I'm not going to say their lives were totally, you know, stress free. They weren't right, but they're definitely not committing suicide. Right. I mean, one of the reasons why we need to get people into into really good careers. Yes. And I tell this people, we need their skills. I have been on very questionable elevators lately. Okay. I found that elevator the other day in a hotel, the brand name hotel, piece of white paper in there for the inspection certificate. Okay. It's not getting surfaced. Elevates making weird screeching noises. Wow. And for the visual thinkers like me who can't do that. Right. A little bit of mechanic can be a perfect job. Airplane mechanic. Right. Is all this trouble with bullying? Right. Who do you want assembling your rudder bolts? Yeah. I'd rather somebody autistic putting together the rudder pedal mechanism. The pilot goes to play on the plane and the rudder pedals don't work. I'd, yeah, I wanted to steer the plane. Absolutely. And what I learned working in construction is that I worked with a lot of mechanical people that were definitely autistic. And they were the best people you had. Right. Or building things, figuring out mechanical stuff, taking care of it. Yeah. We need feels and you have the mathematicians. Let's go back to the food processing plant. The mathematicians will design the boy lotion refrigeration. And the visual thinkers like me build and invent mechanical devices for food process. Yeah, exactly. I spoke with one person and he said that if you walk into a pharmaceutical lab, chances are if you throw a dart, you'll hit someone that's working there that is definitely autistic. Well, exactly. We need the skills. Yes. Testic mind gets really interested in the stuff they do. Right. I mean, I guess, well, that's not on a plane one time. Talked next to a lady and we talked about tilt up warehouse construction for the entire flight. Now, that's a good flight. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So interesting. Right. So now you've seen the best of autistic world. Yes, I am. How have you seen it change since you as a young child to now? Because I know that it's changed dramatically, but we still got a long ways to go. Well, a big thing when I was a young child, so they blamed mother sport. That's absolute rubbish. That's going away. OK. And we're doing a better job now with little kids. You know, you're on certain states. Some states have very good programs for early intervention with little children that are not speed. Yeah. But where we're falling down as a transition to the work work. OK. They're not any life skills in the high schools. It's all, you know, academics. Right. What good is having a magna cum laude degree? If you just end up in your bedroom playing video games. Exactly. That's not very good. Right. And these kids are not becoming video game designers. Right. I had to get them off the video games. Something that's been very successful auto mechanics. OK. It's actually been very successful and they've gotten good jobs. And I tell business people, we need these people. You live in a fancy apartment building, would you like the water system to work in that building? Right. Right. Exactly. But to have somebody that cares about the water system. Absolutely. Right now we have computer systems failing in weird ways. Right. ATT broke down. Yeah. And it broke my United messaging thing for United Airlines in a very strange way. Wow. It's perfectly in Minneapolis. And I only get one text message in Denver. One to another city. I got half the text messages. Well, that's very weird. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It breaks it differently in different places. Well, I can tell you why because you've got old systems on top of old systems on top of old systems. Right. And they're starting to fall apart now because the people who made the old systems were tiring. Right. Right. Exactly. They can remember. Well, we use some Fort Tran to do this. And I can't believe some of the antique equipment. I've seen, I was at the airport recently and watched this file drawer open up behind one of the gate desks. There was an antique teletype machine in there. Wow. Wow. Yeah. I'm going, I looked at that and I'm like, you're using that antique. You've got to be a major airline. Yeah. I remember what SharePoint was. It was not Denver, my own airport. Yeah. But I just saw it. I just now in this figure of this drawer opening, like a violin cabinet, this antique cabinet, like something I used in the late 70s and early 80s. Right. I think one of the things that we absolutely have to get out there is for people like me a year ago, I knew nothing about autism. And I think that people need to get a better understanding because I think they have this perception that if you are diagnosed autistic, then it's a death sentence and it's so far from that in the real world. Well, it's a different operating system. Might be a good way. But again, Einstein didn't speak in the late three. He'd be labeled autistic today. Exactly. Like a land job was probably autistic. Steve Jobs, Elon Musk has come out and that he was autistic. Right. He was also very badly bullied as a child and thrown down the stairs and has face smashed. Yeah. Yeah, there's just no reason for that. No. So how do we take and get there? As a society, we need to figure this out because everyone needs to learn and understand more. I've always said that you can accept something because you are aware of it. But just because you're aware of it doesn't mean that you understand. And that's the biggest problem because if you don't understand, you can't relate to it. So how do we bridge that gap for understanding? Well, that's what I've tried to do in my books. I was right. A lot of practical stuff like, okay, for don't burden the autistic person with long strings of verbal sequential information, make pilots checklist. Right. Let's keep them out of the rapid, moldy task and chaos jobs are to take out window. Right. And some things like that get rid of LED lights at flicker. See, those are very, very basic things that you can do. Right. Having been somebody that worked in a very high end skilled trades. Sure. The best people they had were autistic. Yeah. What's happening now? I'll like to take meat plants, for example. Now, right. They'll have anybody there that can fix anything. Well, everything you said certainly does make a lot of great sense. I take a very practical approach. And there's no theory in my talks. Absolutely. And this has been a great conversation. I hope that everyone listening has enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed bringing it to you. So with that said, remember, next week is the second part of the interview with Temple and mark it down on your calendar because we're going to be covering more great topics. Thanks again for coming on to the first episode of my second year of podcasting. And I look forward to having you for even more. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to our show today. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. If you know someone who has a story to share, tell them to contact us at whynotme.world. One last thing. Spread the word about why not me. Our conversations are inspiring guests. The show you are not alone in this world.
