Ryan White still relevant topic of anti-bullying message

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Students in fifth through eighth grades were invited to Indianapolis Children’s Museum for an anti-bullying summit.

One of the key speakers was a high school friend of Ryan White, Heather Stephenson.

White was 13 years old when he was denied entrance to a public school in Indiana because he had HIV.

School administrators, students and parents were scared of White, because he contracted HIV through a transfusion.

“There’s so many different forms of bullying, I think is very important for kids to see. Ryan was bullied in one of the worst ways possible, and I think hearing that story makes the kids really think about what they’re actually doing,” said Stephenson.

White’s mother won a federal court case to have him readmitted to public school, and she continues to spread the anti-bullying message across the nation.

White died in 1990 from complications associated with HIV.