When animal behavior scientist and autism rights advocate Temple Grandin was beginning her career in livestock, one of her goals was to make the slaughtering process more humane for cattle. As she explains, her autism gave her an advantage in the process. Grandin studied the chutes that cows would walk down, and felt she could literally visualize what they visualized. Her autism allowed her to think in pictures and, through that process, empathize with animals to help make their experiences less emotionally painful.
That is an example of a visual thinker — their mind immediately turns to pictures. And in Grandin's case, being a visual thinker has put her at an advantage, she says — even though in other ways, being a divergent or neurodiverse thinker is often stigmatized.
