RFK Jr.’s Autism Time Machine
The health secretary’s approach to the condition gives the impression that two decades of research simply never happened.

The health secretary’s approach to the condition gives the impression that two decades of research simply never happened.
Donald Triplett’s story held a surprise.
Suspicions dogged the autism researcher for years, but they were largely unverifiable, until now.
As new cases of autism have exploded in recent years—some form of the condition affects about one in 110 children today—efforts have multiplied to understand and accommodate the condition in childhood. But children with autism will become adults with autism, some 500,000 of them in this decade alone. What then? Meet Donald Gray Triplett, 77, of Forest, Mississippi. He was the first person ever diagnosed with autism. And his long, happy, surprising life may hold some answers.