Vivian Diaz
10/21/13
Ryan White Act

Ryan White was a teenager from Kokomo, Indiana in the 1980s, who drew national and, eventually, worldwide attention due to his infection with HIV. It has been speculated that the reason Ryan 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. I believe that he deserves a holiday because a lot of people are affected by HIV/AIDS today and are discriminated because of it. Ryan was also expelled from middle school because of his infection.

With Ryan’s disease, him and his mother courageously fought AIDS-related discrimination and helped educate the Nation about his disease. They fought for his right to attend school, gaining international attention as a voice of reason about HIV/AIDS. 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 he died in 1990 – in 1996, 2000, 2006, and 2009 – and is now called the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.

He influenced change by fighting for HIV/AIDS discrimination. People today who are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS have the support that they need and will not be discriminated due to the Ryan White Program which works with cities, states, and local community-based organization to provide HIV-related services. The program is for those who do not have sufficient health care coverage or financial resources for coping with HIV disease. The Ryan White Care Act; now provides more than $2 billion each year for AIDS medicine and treatment for half a million Americans. Today, countless people with HIV live long, productive lives because of the Ryan White act.

The issue that motivated the Ryan White to action was being kicked out of school. Western Middle School in Russiaville faced enormous pressure from many parents and faculty to expel Ryan from the campus after his diagnosis became widely known. 117 parents (from a school of 360 total students) and 50 teachers signed petition encouraging school leaders to ban Ryan from school.

Ryan White deserves a national holiday because people today are facing some of the problems he had to deal with, like having HIV at a young age and people discriminating them because of something that wasn’t their fault. We should take this day to help others get a better understanding of HIV/AIDS and to honor Ryan White as the hero that I believe he was.

Society is different because of Ryan White’s work because people who have that disease have support from the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act. People can no longer be discriminated, nor be kicked out of school because of Ryan White. That is what he fought so hard for. Others and I living today benefit from his efforts because now we have resources to help those who have HIV/AIDS.

Works Cited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_White http://hab.hrsa.gov/abouthab/ryanwhite.html