"I use my mind to solve problems and invent things"
About this Quote
Grandin’s line is a quiet flex with a mission statement buried inside it. “I use my mind” sounds almost too plain, but that’s the point: she’s rejecting the sentimental framing that so often surrounds neurodiversity. Instead of asking for admiration, pity, or permission, she offers utility. Mind as tool. Mind as engine. Mind as something you deploy.
The subtext is a rebuttal to a culture that treats certain minds as problems to be managed rather than resources to be cultivated. Grandin, an autistic thinker who became a leading figure in animal science and livestock facility design, is implicitly insisting on a different yardstick. Value isn’t measured by social smoothness, small talk, or fitting a narrow template of “normal.” It’s measured by what you can build, fix, and see differently. “Solve problems” signals practicality and impact; “invent things” adds agency and originality. She’s not just coping; she’s contributing.
The context matters because Grandin’s public career has unfolded alongside shifting narratives about autism: from pathology, to awareness, to (sometimes superficial) celebration. Her sentence refuses both tragedy and cheerleading. It’s a grounded claim about capability, and it reads like advice to educators as much as self-description: stop over-reading difference as deficit, and start designing environments where unconventional cognition can do what it does best.
It works because it’s blunt, non-performative, and future-facing. The mind isn’t a label in this framing. It’s a lever.
The subtext is a rebuttal to a culture that treats certain minds as problems to be managed rather than resources to be cultivated. Grandin, an autistic thinker who became a leading figure in animal science and livestock facility design, is implicitly insisting on a different yardstick. Value isn’t measured by social smoothness, small talk, or fitting a narrow template of “normal.” It’s measured by what you can build, fix, and see differently. “Solve problems” signals practicality and impact; “invent things” adds agency and originality. She’s not just coping; she’s contributing.
The context matters because Grandin’s public career has unfolded alongside shifting narratives about autism: from pathology, to awareness, to (sometimes superficial) celebration. Her sentence refuses both tragedy and cheerleading. It’s a grounded claim about capability, and it reads like advice to educators as much as self-description: stop over-reading difference as deficit, and start designing environments where unconventional cognition can do what it does best.
It works because it’s blunt, non-performative, and future-facing. The mind isn’t a label in this framing. It’s a lever.
Quote Details
| Topic | Technology |
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