The Fight
The White's and their lawyers knew this would not be an easy battle to win. At the end of the day, it was up to the school. Public perspective would be key. One of the main reasons for White being barred was how parents threatened to not let their kids go to school. They needed the court to make sure a medical professional cleared him for school, and that that was the deciding factor, not a yes or no from a judge. In theory, a signed, clean bill of health was what was needed to allow him back to school, and eliminate the health risk.
"I asked him why he didn't get mad at what people were doing and saying. And he'd say, 'Oh mom, they're just trying to protect their own kids like you're trying to protect me. I'm not afraid to die. When the Lord wants me, he'll take me.'"
- Jeanne White-Ginder, remembering when Ryan had told her that he understood why people didn't want him to return to school and that he wasn't afraid of death, 2019
On August 16, 1985, U.S. District Judge James Noland ruled in Indianapolis that the White's lawyer must go through all the state's local appeals before they could go through federal. White, his mother, and their lawyers tried to get Ryan in on the day of opening classes, with no success. All of September was a struggle, as Ryan was consistently in and out of the hospital for a cold and a respiratory infection. In late September, he was admitted to the hospital only to get out in early November. This was an especially hard year on Ryan and his mother between his case and all of the hospital visits.
Attorney David Rosselot representing Concerned Citizens and Parents of Children attending Western School Corp.
"They didn't want to hear about how AIDS was transmitted. The fears and anxieties of the public were at an all-time high."
- Charles Vaughn Jr., the White's lawyer, describing how people in Kokomo were responding to Ryan's case, 1990
On February 6, 1986, Dr. Alan J. Adler cleared White for school. The next week on February 13, he was officially allowed back. White returned to school on February 21. 151 out of the 360 kids stayed home and seven transferred. Later that day, Judge Alan Brubaker issued a temporary restraint order, barring White from the classroom yet again. Finally on April 10, 1986, Judge Jack O'Neill lifted the restraint order on the White's behalf.
"Ryan saw that he could talk about the disease and people would listen. He saw he was making a difference. He helped people understand what they didn't want to understand."
- Jeanne White-Ginder, explaining how Ryan used the publicity to try and make a difference in the way that people viewed AIDS, 2019