Thinking in Pictures: My Life With Autism

The squeeze machine is an object that represents many components of autism. It represents Grandin’s anxiety, the benefits of perspective taking, her industrious nature, and how others perceive her traits. Grandin’s anxiety is a struggle others with autism often experience. A search for relief motivates Grandin’s innovation of the squeeze machine, hoping for the calming effect of pressure. Witnessing the reduced stress of cattle in a squeeze chute inspires Grandin to imitate the machine; she thus turns observation into sensory perspective taking.

The success of the squeeze machine in reducing Grandin’s anxiety points to the physiological foundation of both anxiety and autism. However, without this knowledge, adults in Grandin’s life apply their misconceptions, insisting in both the strangeness and ineffectiveness of the squeeze machine. This misconception grows to the point of adults dictating her discontinued use of the squeeze machine, despite the comfort it provides to Grandin:

Professionals in those days had no understanding of autistic sensory problems; they still believed that autism was caused by psychological factors. Since they wanted to get rid of my machine, they alerted my mother, who became very concerned. Like the professionals, she had no idea that my attraction to pressure was biological (59-60).