I have indeed met Temple Grandin and she is utterly fascinating. Her work on slaughterhouse design used her unique perspective - she believes she thinks and perceives in a similar way to animals because of her autism.
So for example, she observed how staff at abattoirs dealt with livestock and how she reacted to it: too much shouting, whistling and general human noise = upset animals (and her!) and increased vocalisation. She basically told them to be quiet and keep their adrenalin levels down (interestingly, horse trainer Monty Roberts uses similar advice - horses are very sensitive to human agitation. Research has shown their heart rate increases if they're interacting with humans whose heart rate and adrenalin level are raised)
She also helped them "see" the way a cow would see the abattoir - things like a patch of water with light glinting off it would often cause the animals to stop and shy away (resulting in the use of an electric prod to move them on) The same applied to things like chain hanging down in their line of vision. She also redesigned the passageways that cattle walked down to get to the slaughter point - she made them curved, as this appeals to their natural curiosity to keep moving on.
She went all over America working with the huge slaughter plants, very powerful, male run businesses, and basically changed the way they worked. All this was done with MacDonalds - they had the power to do this because of course they are such a big buyer of meat there.
Her work has influenced cattle handling systems in this country as well.
I could have spent a week all day talking to her.