Ryan White was born on December 6, 1971, in Kokomo, Indiana, and was diagnosed with hemophilia A three days after birth. In December 1984, at 13, he became gravely ill with pneumonia, and on December 17, 1984, at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, he was diagnosed with AIDS. He had contracted the virus from a contaminated hemophilia treatment, months before the first blood test, described in Blood Screening Test, made it possible to screen donations.

When he was well enough to return to class, the superintendent and school board of the Western School Corporation denied him admittance to Western Middle School in Russiaville. Nearly a third of the school's parents and 50 teachers signed a petition to keep him out of the building. In July 1985 the Indiana Board of Health issued guidelines for children with AIDS attending school, and in November 1985 the Indiana Department of Education ruled that he was to be admitted. Appeals, restraining orders and other legal actions followed,…