Responses to the theme ‘stairs and corridors’

On September 2nd 2016 three experts responded to the theme “stairs and corridors” through LinkedIn:

Dr. Debra Moore, Psychologist, Coauthor with Dr. Temple Grandin of “The Loving Push” (2016) from Sacramento, California:
“Sometimes it is the little things we don’t think of that can make a huge difference. I believe Temple Grandin has tried to teach us that over and over with her approach to redesign of livestock facilities, and also explaining how that transfers to those on the spectrum who are visual thinkers (as well as those with muscle tone or proprioceptive challenges).”

Lori Pollard, author of three books on autism and autism advocate from Toronto, Canada:
“Stairs and corridors are also quite literally transition points. I recall my autistic son as an infant, long before diagnosis, simply could not crawl through the archway that separated our living room and dining room. he’d just get stuck. transitions are still extremely difficult for him, and for many autistic adults I know. Thank you for pointing out what should be an obvious barrier that we often overlook.”

Marian O’Brien, Director of The Concerto Project for Young Adults with Autism in Seattle:
“It wasn’t until my daughter was just a preteen that I realized what was happening with her vision and perception of depth. I walked behind her as she very tentatively descended a narrow staircase. She had been diagnosed with 20/20 vision by 3 specialists prior to this (meaning perfect sharpness, fs), yet she still struggled with seeing the board at school. A new specialist was recommended to us and we explained to him about the staircase, and she was able to describe to him that when she looked at the board at school it was as though she could see in front of it and behind it at the same time. He gave her prescriptive lenses to “flatten” out the images. When we saw the movie about Temple’s life and she articulated how she saw images dimensionally, and the sketches appeared on the screen, my husband and I looked at each other in awe. That was what our daughter was seeing! Just another way these special brains perceive dimensions and space.”