What back-to-school meant during the AIDS crisis
Thousands of kids didn’t show up on the first day.
When half the United States suspected that AIDS could spread by sharing water glasses, back-to-school suddenly seemed deadly.
It wasn’t, in reality. But in 1985 experts knew too little about the virus to agree on infection risk.
Then, about 12,000 children missed the first day of school in Queens, New York, as parents protested the decision to allow an unidentified young girl with AIDS to attend classes. According to The New York Times, the remaining 934,000 students attended school as expected.
Meanwhile, two community school boards took the fight to the State Supreme Court in Queens, where officials demanded the Board of Education remove the second-grade girl from school grounds. Medical professionals shared their opinions during the hearings. “There is more to learn,” said pediatric immunologist Dr. Arye Rubenstein, who advised against permitting the student in the classroom.
The same article cites a New York Times/CBS News poll that indicated half of Americans believed one could contract AIDS by sharing a drinking glass used by an infected person. One-fourth believed they could catch AIDS from a toilet seat.
In fact, the HIV virus that can lead to AIDS is primarily contracted through unprotected sex, needle sharing, or other fluid exchange, such as breastfeeding. HIV is not transmitted through saliva or sweat.
Stoking parents’ fear was the memory of Ryan White, an American boy who was expelled from junior high in December 1985 for having the AIDS virus. When doctors gave White six months to live and sent him back to school in Indiana, parents protested. A petition with 117 parent and 50 teacher signatures, respectively, caused the school board to cave and remove the boy. The White family sued, whereupon the Indiana Department of Education ruled the boy must be allowed to return.
White lived until he was 18, five years after doctors predicted his death. He spent the time as a poster child for the AIDS crisis, sharing his experience and advocating for AIDS education.
Since the disease’s first clinical observation in 1981, HIV has infected more than 70 million people worldwide; 35 million have died. In 2004 alone, the peak year of the epidemic, 2.3 million people died. According to UNAIDS, new HIV infections have fallen 35% worldwide since 2000 (58% among children). Roughly 36.7 million people were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2015.
These numbers are still high, but progress is being made. UNAIDS hopes to help end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Antiretroviral drugs, research, and technology are making significant headway.
Stigma around HIV/AIDS has improved, too, but is more difficult to measure. Children with the disease, 91% of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa, often face bullying, isolation, and developmental and physical challenges that can impact self-esteem.
But universal research shows that support systems, like family and school, can improve wellbeing in children affected by AIDS. Expulsion is never the answer; quite the opposite.
