Title/Topic:    Ryan White's mom calls for universal AIDS education
Source:  SF Examiner 10/20/93
Author: Jeffrey Herwatt
Date:   06:47 PM Today
     
     
     
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 Ryan White's mom calls for universal AIDS education
     
     
   SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- In a tearful review of her son Ryan's inspiring
battle with AIDS, Jeanne White asked health care providers and AIDS activists
Wednesday to work for universal education in schools about the deadly disease.
   At a national AIDS gathering in San Francisco, White recalled her son's
ordeal of being forced out of school after his diagnosis in 1984. At the time,
she said, little was known about how the disease was spread, and fear ran
rampant.
   White said Ryan, a hemophiliac who contracted AIDS through a tainted blood
transfusion and died five years later at age 14, held up courageously against
the prejudice of his teachers, classmates and even doctors.
   She said Ryan, whose life was featured in a television movie, forgave those
who shunned him with humor and understanding. He became a symbol for activists
promoting the civil rights of AIDS victims.
   White, who got a standing ovation, urged that all schools "tell the whole
truth" in teaching children about AIDS, how it is contracted and how to prevent
getting it.