Donald Triplett's Original Autism Diagnosis

The first person diagnosed with autism was an American boy named Donald Gray Triplett, whom psychiatrist Leo Kanner identified as "Case 1" in his landmark 1943 paper. Kanner had first examined Triplett in October 1938 and documented his social difficulties alongside remarkable abilities in memory, mental multiplication, and identifying musical notes. Triplett later earned a degree in mathematics and French and spent 65 years working at the Bank of Forest in Mississippi. He lived independently, traveled to 40 countries, and died from cancer in 2023 at age 89.

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