Ryan White: My Own Story

Ryan White: My Own Story is about a boy who was diagnosed with AIDS at 13 years old, and how he and his family dealt with the hate and overall environment of his hometown concerning the disease. When Ryan White was born, he was diagnosed with a disease called hemophilia. He later contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion when he was only 13. Despite his disease, Ryan White just wanted to be like everybody else and live a normal life. He loved to hang out with friends and was a straight A student. His hometown of Kokomo, Indiana did not accept him because they thought his disease was contagious. The White family suffered from discrimination, which was very emotional and resulted in many hard times. Ryan was frequently in the hospital for many scans and tests, and in addition to the disease, his parents went through a divorce.
Ryan White was born on December 6, 1971 in Kokomo, Indiana. When he was three days old, it was confirmed that he had hemophilia, a disease in which the blood does not clot. Luckily, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had

At first, individuals there insisted that there were no health rules for someone with AIDS to attend an ordinary school. Even after the Indiana State Board of Health set guidelines stating that it would be safe if White attended school, the principal, school board, and teachers tried to keep him out of school. They feared he would spread the ailment, even though it was known by that point that AIDS couldn’t be spread by casual contact. White and his mother took the case to court. Eventually they could compromise with their neighbors’ by having Ryan drink out of a separate water fountain, use a separate restroom, use disposable trays at lunch, and have him exempted from gym class. Even though these changes were made, twenty students were taken out of school by their parents to avoid any contact with