
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990                   TAG: 9004100566
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AIDS/ `AVERAGE' KID TAUGHT COMPASSION

RYAN WHITE, the average kid who got AIDS, brought out the best and worst in Americans. He lost his battle with the illness Sunday, but had triumphed over the bigotry that accompanies it. His dignity in the face of community rejection exposed Americans' irrational fear of AIDS victims.

Ryan, a hemophiliac, was diagnosed five years ago as having AIDS. School officials and parents of Ryan's classmates refused to believe health authorities' assurances that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact. He was barred from school and became the object of vicious gossip in his hometown of Kokomo, Ind.

At age 13, Ryan stood and fought. After months of school-board and court hearings, he finally was readmitted to school. But the community pressure proved too much for the Whites, who moved to the Indianapolis suburb of Cicero.

The reception in Cicero was entirely different. When Ryan was welcomed at his new school with open arms, many people were touched.

It would have been easy for Ryan to stop there, and live the rest of his life as quietly as possible. But he wanted to help increase understanding of AIDS. Despite his fragile physical condition, he traveled a great deal to speaking engagements.

Along the way, he was befriended by celebrities, including Presidents Bush and Reagan. Ryan's story also became the basis for a television movie that brought the disease into everyone's living room.

Ryan's goal was to promote compassion for AIDS victims. During the past week, when he was critically ill in Indianapolis, the hospital was flooded with thousands of calls daily from well-wishers. Ryan White accomplished his mission.

by CNB