Temple Grandin takes us inside the world of visual thinking

For millions of neurodivergent people, it can be incredibly difficult to thrive in a world that is full of unspoken rules and narrow thinking. Our language-dominated society tends to sideline visual thinkers, screening them out at school and passing them over in the workplace, even though visual thinkers — many of whom are neurodivergent — constitute a far greater proportion of the population than previously believed.

In the new book “Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions,” New York Times bestselling author, autism activist and scientist Temple Grandin explores cutting-edge research to take us inside the world of visual thinking, reframing the conversation on neurodiversity and showing how different types of thinkers are essential for our collective well-being.

Grandin is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and has also written “Animals in Translation,” “Animals Make Us Human,” “The Autistic Brain” and “Thinking in Pictures.” She joined CultureShift to discuss how we can better incorporate non-verbal thinking into our schools and workplaces.

“The problem is my kind of minds [are] getting screened out of school because we can’t do algebra. But you need us. You need us really, really badly.” — Temple Grandin, author, activist and professor