First person diagnosed with autism dies aged 89

Donald Triplett, who was the first person to be diagnosed with autism, died last week in of Forest, Mississippi,  age 89, the cause of death was cancer.

A group of doctors diagnosed Triplett in the year 1943 as having a cognitive neurological disorder called “autism,” and he was 10 years old at that time.

Donald Triplett, was confirmed to have died on Thursday, June 15. An obituary for him said he died “peacefully at home” following an “extended illness”.

Despite being diagnosed with this cognitive disorder, Triplett managed to continue his education and worked for over 60 years at the small-town bank in Forest, Mississippi.

It became apparent at an early age that social interaction was challenging and ultimately uninteresting to him; he fixated on certain kinds of objects and displayed a knack for memorization.

Triplett started working at the Bank of Forest in 1958 and was remembered as a “fixture” at the small Mississippi city bank that sits about 40 miles east of Jackson.