Why would being autistic help someone work with animals?
Autistic people can think the way that animals think. Autism is a way station on the road that links humans to other animals. I can tell people why animals do the things they do. I am against anthropomorphising animals, but you have to think: if I was a cow, how would I react? I find that really easy to figure out. I am paid to see all the stuff that normal people cannot see. [theory of mind?] What sort of stuff is that? In order to understand animals, you need to get away from language. Animals don’t think in language. As an autistic person, I don’t think in language either. I’m a visual thinker. My mind works like Google for images. That has to be closer to how an animal’s mind works – there is no other way that animals could possibly think. The problem with people is that they are too cerebral. An autistic person’s brain works more like a child’s brain, or an animal’s. They don’t have complex emotions such as shame or guilt. Isn’t that anthropomorphism? I’m a hard-brained scientist
