Intersectional Leaders: Dr. Temple Gradin, Disability and Feminism
Intersectional Leaders: Dr. Temple Gradin, Disability and Feminism
In
communication studies, as in women's studies at the university level, one is
bound to meet the works of bell hooks, and one should be grateful for this
encounter. This famed author provides a dynamic and unique connection between
theory and day-to-day life; her work both demystifies and represents academia
in a unique way that positions learning on a continuum. What becomes so
palpable is the passion behind her work which attempts and succeeds to
illustrate the world as an imperfect, scary and oppressive environment,
especially to voices of individuals who have been historically devalued and
repressed. However, just as she positions the harsh realities of this world on
those who read her work, she also provides roadmaps and critical provocations
toward the ideas of hope and how to foster it as the vehicle of change.
The
concept of power is everywhere but difficult to detect beyond symbolic
representation and has always been something that continuously bothers me.
Power is a force which often operates in the unseen but never not felt
epistemological and institutional frameworks of society (hooks, 2015). But
power can also manifest in day-to-day social interaction; who is talking, who
gets the privilege to speak, what is behind those words and who does not get
the opportunity or is silenced by power being exercised often comes to mind as
I grow as a critical thinker both in academic and personal circles. With the
help of bell hooks, I can begin to critique the dominant understandings of
reproduced ideas or stereotypes as alluring as they provide easy answers to
diverse and complex questions. In particular, I am drawn to her anecdote about
defining feminism and what it means to be a feminist. She laments that in her
conversations with friends and strangers alike that the word feminist or
feminism becomes associated with a stereotyped image of angry women who hate
men or angry women who want to act with the same power men have (hooks, 2015).
Profoundly rooted in these conversations is feminism as angry and tied to
women; absent is feminism and its relation to human rights, equity and
equality. This brief anecdote profoundly took me because before university, I,
too, would have this stereotyped image of an angry woman as a representation of
feminism. Also evident in this anecdote is that these stereotyped women are
operating their existence around men; hooks allude that this dominant
understanding evokes the apparent sexism behind feminism. She contends that the
sexism characterized in feminist struggles not only implicates women as
independent resistors but also engages men as essential actors in
decentralizing the power of sexist oppression.
My
attention to bell hooks' work is multifaceted; I'm not too fond of the
implications of allyship in the discourses of male feminist activists because
the term applies that male roles and perspectives on reshaping the world
towards a feminist perspective should only come secondarily in support of
equality and equity. Inclusion, equitable practices and the betterment of the
world impact everyone, whether they identify as male, female, or nonbinary. In
this post, I aim to use my perspective as a cis-gendered white male with a
visible disability to illuminate the intersections between disability, feminism
and leadership. Highlighted within this intersection is a case study of Dr.
Temple Grandin, a woman with autism who utilized tremendous courage and
intelligence to become not only a disability activist but a groundbreaking
animal scientist. By shedding light on this truly remarkable individual, I
attempt to navigate and negotiate a complex image of feminism and leadership
similar to the work of bell hooks. Like hooks, I contend that feminism is for
everyone and the ability to enact change comes from leadership in the sense
that is breaking down preconceived notions of what comprises a leader needs to
be constantly challenged through examples which showcase diversity. Diversity
is not just representation but the power implications behind identifying with
different leaders, making voices echoed by leaders more reflective of the
diversity of society. Queering ideas and representations of leadership in all
fields and professions are essential as it fosters hopes for younger
generations not to limit themselves but to aspire to lead an inclusive world.
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Temple Grandin
Dr.
Temple Grandin is perhaps the most famous person with autism spectrum disorder
(ASD). She is a prolific author and professor at the University of Colorado who
rose to fame for her groundbreaking work to fight for developing humane slaughterhouses
(Oren, 2017). Her remarkable story has been retold through adaptation in HBO's
film titled with her name (Oren, 2017). The film recounts her difficulties
beginning in high school, where her disability led to extreme bullying and
being misunderstood by the teachers. Gradin experiences a great deal of her
early life isolated and ostracized (Gregory, 2011). She
would often find comfort in her mother's words, which became an important
mantra as she rose to the top of her Male-dominated profession,
"Different, but not less" (Gregory, 2011). Watching
the film, I witnessed the immense rejection, exploitation and discrimination
Grandin faced because of her femininity. STEM-based jobs are notoriously
male-dominated; Grandin's
femininity in the field of animal science was treated
as a threat by her colleague, who subjected her to a plethora of
microaggressions meant to diminish and disqualify her intelligence and
contributions. The patriarchal environment leads to Grandin being constantly
called "honey," "sweetie," or "little lady" (Gregory,
2011).
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Notable
in this rejection of her femininity is how it intersects with her disability.
Grandin, as part of her disability, needs physical pressure on her skin, so she
events this self-squeezing/hugging machine to help her. Unfortunately, her male
colleagues misunderstood this machine, and in the hyper-masculine environment,
the machine was labelled as a sexual device. This situation relates strongly to
bell hook's definition of feminism, which says feminism is the fight for
liberation from sexist oppression (hooks, 2015). Gradin did not let these
oppressive occurrences and conditions prevent her from climbing to the top of
her profession. Her work has completely changed the practices and treatment of
slaughterhouse animals (livestock). She has learned how to use her platform as
an academic to become a leading activist for the favourable treatment of people
with autism (Oren, 2017). Including giving lectures on inclusion and building
an understanding of how people with autistic minds work differently, but not
less. The following is a Ted Talk given by Gradin on the minds which think.
Differently, this speech exemplifies the importance of queering the world to
dismantle the oppression people who are "different" face. Instead,
differences, whether age, race, ability etc., should be supported, celebrated
and cherished when historically they have been underrepresented and
discriminated against. This equitable world which Grandin continuously fights
for, is why she is a significant feminist leader, especially in disability
communities. I hope this blog post has shown this remarkable woman’s importance
and why she should be celebrated in more mainstream discourse.
Ted Talk Movie Trailer
Gregory, R.
(2011). Review of Grandin, beyond the Spectacle of the Autistic Adult. Disability
Studies Quarterly, 31(3). https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v31i3.1659
hooks, bell.
(2015). Feminism is for everybody: Passionate politics. Routledge.
Oren, Tasha.
(2017). Autism in Translation: Temple Grandin as the Autistic Subject. In Disability
Media Studies (p. 222–). NYU Press.
TEDTalks
Temple Grandin - The World Needs All Kinds of Minds. (2010). Films Media Group.
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