I had the great good fortune last evening to attend a talk by Temple Grandin, a professor at Colorado State, and a leading advocate for persons with autism. I was fascinated during the question and answer period by the number of young people who asked intelligent questions about autism, in many cases disclosing that they are on the autism spectrum. Time and time again, these young people spoke eloquently about their struggles to succeed, and identified techniques and strategies to overcome the challenges of learning in school settings that often are not welcoming or supportive of their different ways of learning.
Professor Grandin spent a portion of her talk discussing her concerns about the lack of school industrial arts programs that teach mechanical drawing, machining, woodworking, auto shop and similar subjects that provide a career path that does not require a college degree. As the Professor noted, the lack of workers in our economy with these skills will soon make it difficult if not impossible to repair the electrical grid if it goes down, as an example. She discussed the career path potential for someone starting at entry-level on the factory floor, learning how the machinery works throughout the plant and then being able to design new machinery or new plant layouts that improve efficiency and productivity. (Professor Grandin herself is noted as an inventor and holds patents for a number of machines.) She talked about how often those mechanical jobs are filled successfully by persons on the autism spectrum. Professor Grandin described persons with autism as visual thinkers, and able to picture consequences that verbal thinkers would not imagine. She suggested that people with autism are valuable members of teams designing new industrial equipment or processes and that many inventors are most likely on the autism spectrum. Their creativity is a function of their different way of thinking. She even speculated that Michelangelo might have been autistic.
This morning, news coming out of Germany notes that the new Coalition government may lower the voting age to 16. My initial reaction was wow! I think back to my youth when the voting age in our country was lowered from 21 to 18. The biggest argument that we could voice at that time (during the Vietnam War) was that if a young man was old enough to go to war for our country, that he should be old enough to vote, too. This action by Germany, if it becomes a reality, is different, since Germany is not at war, and doesn’t have that reactionary argument to support the idea of expanding the voting franchise. This strikes me as a very positive development, engaging the youth of Germany for the right reasons- to give voice, and to open up new ideas to the world of governance.
So what do Temple Grandin and the voting age in Germany have to do with Community Development? Both give me hope that the creativity, energy, and optimism of persons with autism and other young people will help the world resolve some of the critical concerns of our day- be they stopping climate change, or how to solve the problem of homelessness. The 50th anniversary of the original Earth Day occurred not too long ago. While those of us that were in the roadside ditches picking up litter that day may grumble about the younger generation not recognizing our contribution to making change in our communities, starting the clean up of the Hudson River, say, or the establishment of the EPA, the fact is that there is still a lot to do, and if we are too tired to do it ourselves, then we can at least offer encouragement to the next generations that are working on today’s problems, such as PFAS contamination of rural wells, or gentrification of our communities and the displacement of less-well-off residents. We owe it to our own histories to see the efforts to improve this world continue, and hopefully inspire another generation to take up the cause and become leaders of the movement to heal the environment, or end hunger, or ensure that everyone has a safe, decent place to live.
Are we inaugurating the decline of the Old White Guy? Having lived through the Vietnam War, and witnessed the earlier lowering of the voting age, you can correctly guess that in many ways I meet the definition of the Old White Guy. But I would hazard that OWG status is more related to attitude than the year of birth. OWG is about the status quo, circling the wagons and preventing change of any kind a protectionist and exclusionary perspective. There are many people in this country, of all ages, who work very hard to make sure that new ideas- the kind that come from diversity, from youth, from creatives- never see the light of day. At the same time, there are many people in our country who are long past retirement age, who are living actively and joyfully, learning new ideas, and contributing to the health of their communities. I do hope that those, both old and not-so-old, who treasure their stranglehold on our culture and economy will begin to lessen their grip. I do hope that their hearts will be opened to see the potential in new ways of looking at our long-standing problems.
So, imagine a world where people young and old, of all colors and backgrounds, poor and rich, healthy and frail, book educated or street smart, come together to share their ideas and brainstorm solutions to the problems that our communities face. Political types call this the big tent. If the line of people that I saw last night waiting to ask Professor Grandin questions, or the news out of Germany this morning are any indication, we can expect our big tents of the future to be well-attended founts of creativity and solutions.
So, all of you kids, come play on my lawn!
The Curmudgeon
