Considered the most influential autism speaker and activist for the humane treatment of animals in the world, Dr. Temple Grandin has immensely changed the face of slaughterhouse design and operations across the United States United. He gives speeches and lectures across the country informing people about autism and its effects, as well as how to best treat autism in its young victims. It is a symbol of hope and perseverance for people with autism and even those who are not, showing that with determination and hard work, anything can be achieved. Autism slowed her down in many aspects of her career, but it was never enough to stop her from becoming an engineer of the most popular and accepted livestock handling systems and regulations in the country. Grandin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to parents Richard Grandin and Eustacia Carter, on August 29, 1947. At the age of two, she was diagnosed with brain damage and, that same year, diagnosed with autism. Grandin's parents refused to send her to an institution and did their best to help Temple learn to speak. She was soon placed in a structured preschool with teachers and staff with autism-specific training. At age four, Grandin began speaking and made moderate progress in developing his social and motor skills. She spent much of her childhood at home where a nurse, hired by her family, watched over her and attempted to keep her from some of her autistic habits. Grandin admits that adolescence was the worst time of his life. She was the nerdy girl in school that everyone made fun of and called "recorder" because she often said the same thing over and over again. Her parents placed her and took her out of many private schools, refusing...... half of paper ......heb. October 21, 2011. Colorado State University. April 2006. Web. 23 October 2011. Claudia Wallis. . TIME magazine. Thursday 4 February 2010. Web. 22 October 2011.Grandin, Tempio. Animals in translation. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print.Grandin, Tempio. Thinking in pictures: and other accounts of my life with autism. New York: Doubleday, 1995. Print. 25 September 2010. Web. 22 October 2011.< http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/grandin.html>. Lemelson¬-MIT. March 1998. Web. October 21, 2011. Stephen M. Edelson, Ph.D. . Center for the Study of Autism. Network. 23 October 2011.Tempio Grandin. . Network. October 22 2011.