"How could he have AIDS?”
In December 1984, when White was just 13, he was diagnosed with AIDS. The doctors determined the cause was the Factor VIII. It was given to Ryan to add the clotting agent for his blood that he was missing' through transfusions. The blood was infected with HIV, leading to him getting AIDS. He was given 6 months to live. White was one of the first children and hemophiliacs in the United States to get AIDS.
White faced many problems when he was diagnosed with AIDS. People treated him cruelly. He was bullied endlessly and kids would beat him up. Many parents threatened to not let their kids go to school if he was there.
"It was really bad. People were really cruel, people said that he had to be gay, that he had to have done something bad or wrong, or he wouldn't have had it. It was God's punishment, we heard the God's punishment a lot. That somehow, some way he had done something he shouldn't have done or he wouldn't have gotten AIDS."
- Jeanne White-Ginder, talking about her son Ryan's struggle with the stigma and perspective of AIDS, date unknown
On July 30, 1985, Western Schools Corp. Superintendent J.O. Smith officially barred Ryan from school. He claimed that there were too many uncertainties, such as risking the health of the students and staff. On August 4, 1985, the state Health Board urged Smith to let White back into school. The superintendent refused, and the White's lawyers filed a suit in the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis for him to go back to school. Four days later, parents from his school signed 117 claim forms, threatening to file a civil suit if he was allowed back.
"What are you going to do about someone chewing pencils or sneezing or swimming in the pool?"
- James O. Smith, School Superintendent, explaining why he thinks White shouldn't return to school, 1985