Why is it that so many conversations stop just at the point that discussion seems most interesting?  What prevents people from voicing their opinion on a wide variety of subjects?  When the area under discussion concentrates on certain topics— among them race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability—the terrain suddenly seems very shaky and maintaining silence often becomes the easiest and safest option.

The Difficult Diversity Discussion Series aims to get students, faculty, staff and administrators on campus involved in “difficult” conversations concerning issues of diversity by presenting speakers who present interesting and provocative material, covering a variety of topics.  Past speakers have included Greg Mortenson, Reza Aslan, Barbara Ehrenreich, Tim Wise, Andrew Breitbart, Naomi Klein, Eric Schlosser and Sir Ken Robinson.

This month, the series brings to campus Dr. Temple Grandin and we thought it fitting to select her book, Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism, for this month’s Bulldogs Book Club selection.  Dr. Temple Grandin, a highly accomplished adult with autism, livestock advocate and sought-after lecturer.  In her unprecedented book, she gives her personal account of living with autism and tells how her extraordinary gift of animal empathy has transformed her world.  

Join the discussion in the Bulldogs Book Club group.
Purchase the book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Learn more about Bulldogs Book Club here.

Dr. Grandin is world-famous for overcoming her personal struggles with autism and has inspired people around the world.  She is among the few people who have broken through many of the neurological impairments associated with autism, developing unique coping strategies, including her famous “squeeze machine,” modeled after seeing the calming effect of squeeze chutes on cattle.  She is also a professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University and a gifted animal scientist who has designed one third of all the livestock-handling facilities in the United States.  Her accomplishments as a speaker, author and advocate earned her a place among TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2010, and her life story was the subject of the 2010 HBO biopic, “Temple Grandin,” winner of seven Emmy awards and a Golden Globe.

She will present “Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism” at the University on January 22, 2013 and offer information from the frontlines of autism, including treatment, medication and diagnosis, as well as Temple’s insight into genius, savants and sensory phenomena.


•    What:         Temple Grandin:  “Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism”
•    When:        7 p.m. on January 22, 2013
•    Where:       Memorial Chapel, University of Redlands
•    Tickets:      By phone at 909-748-8116 or at the Campus Events window in Hunsaker University Center.
•    Cost:          $20 general public; $5 non-Redlands college & university students; free to students K-12.  The event is free to University of Redlands staff, faculty and students, but tickets are required.  
•    Note:         ASL interpretation is available for this event.  For other accommodations, call 909-748-8285 or email leela_madhavarau@redlands.edu.