 20th Anniversary of the Death of Ryan WhiteThursday, April 8th will mark the 20th Anniversary of the death of Ryan White. Ryan White was an Indiana teenager with hemophilia who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion. He courageously fought AIDS-related discrimination and helped educate the Nation about his disease. Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS at age 13. He and his mother Jeanne White-Ginder fought for his right to attend school, gaining international attention. Ryan was featured on countless television shows and magazine covers and was the subject of a television movie about his life. Ryan White died on April 8, 1990, at the age of 18, just a few months before Congress passed the AIDS bill that bears his name-the Ryan White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency) Act. The legislation has been reauthorized four times since-in 1996, 2000, 2006 (in which the program was renamed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program) and again by President Obama in October 2009. You can learn more about Ryan White’s story by visiting the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis “Power of Children Exhibit” You can also hear President Obama’s comments and view the 2009 Reauthorization signing.
|
