Ryan White

Ryan became infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) from a blood products transfusion as part of his treatment for hemophilia. As a result, he was expelled from school for being a health risk to other students. His situation became a cause célèbre in North America with AIDS activists lobbying to have him reinstated while attempting to explain to the public that AIDS cannot be transmitted by casual contact. Eventually, Ryan was transferred to another school where he was received as a celebrity by a faculty and students who were fully educated into the nature of HIV.

Before he died, he worked to educate people on the nature of HIV and AIDS, to show that it was not a gay disease and that with a few precautions, it was safe to associate with people who were HIV-positive. It has been speculated that the reason Ryan White got so much attention was that he was a heterosexual white middle class boy who was not part of any of the regular minority groups stigmatized by the disease. This allowed him to become a poster boy for HIV infection who was part of the most powerful social group in North America.

See also: List of HIV-positive individuals, The Ryan White Story

Further reading

• Ryan White's Testimony before the President's Commission on AIDS

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