You Can't "Overcome" Autism
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 4:28PM Dear Colorado State University Marketing Department:
Look. I like the university you work for. Go rams. But here's the thing: whoever is writing your advertisement copy is cutting some pretty stupid corners. On a recent flight to Los Angeles, I noticed your ad about Professor Temple Grandin, PhD in the Frontier Airlines magazine. In the copy, some jerk claims that Dr. Grandin "overcame" autism:
Now, I haven't seen the Claire Danes movie, so I guess there's always more to learn. But my understanding of Dr. Grandin's success is that it is precisely because she has autism that she has been such a gift to her field. She attributes her unique perspective, particularly when it comes to understanding animal behavior, to the fact that she can think in pictures... which she associates with her autism. As far as I can tell, the only thing she overcame is the huge heap of sickeningly-saccharine, condescending attitudes held by people eager to short sell anyone who is just a little bit different. Okay, I'll buy that Dr. Grandin overcame some of the challenges typically associated with autism, but that isn't what your ad says. Be specific. It would only cost you a few extra words, and that's a small price for clarity.
CSU is damn lucky to have Dr. Temple Grandin as a professor. Don't pin a badge on her and call her a Girl Scout and a good sport. She isn't Notre Dame's Rudy. She is wholly herself, and she seems to be doing a bang-up job of it... which is more than most of us can say.
Reader Comments (2)
As usual Andrea, you cut through the crap and deliver the goods. Like you, I appreciate that CSU honors the gifts and contributions of Dr. Grandin. I am not convinced they would honor them so publicly without the opportunity to leverage her contribution into a marketing angle, but I can be a bit cynical about those things. Besides, legitimate institutions of higher learning don't have the credibility they used to, so maybe they need a poster-of-success like Dr. Grandin to set themselves apart.
At any rate, I believe in the power of intentional language, and I subscribe to the philosophy that a university should not only teach the power of language to its students, but it should also model that practice. If this was about someone with no legs achieving a gold medal, I might give more credence to this description (although I still believe it would be an oversimplification, since we never know how the pieces fit together). But, as you pointed out, it is at least partially because of her autism that Dr. Grandin accomplished so much. The challenges she faced probably had more to do with other people's perceptions of her abilities as they fit within their own narrow, existing paradigms than they did with her having a 'disability'.
But, that's why I struggle with that word. She was different, but the people who would not listen were the ones with a more long-lasting and detrimental disability. Time and her persistence proved that.
One other point, if I may. My lovely bride Veronica pointed out that using the word "overcame" implies that Dr. Grandin no longer has autism. When we overcome something, it is no longer relevant. Unless Dr. Grandin has been sipping smoothies with an autism-curing-science-defying-miracle-working-genius like Jenny McCarthy, then she probably still has autism.
Autism wasn't overcome. The ignorance of the people around her was overcome.