Jeanne White

Jeanne White-Ginder is the mother of Ryan White, a courageous young man whose autobiography, Ryan White: My Own Story, recounts his HIV/AIDS diagnosis at age 13 and his fight against AIDS-related discrimination in his Indiana community. She catapulted from obscurity to being a media regular when Ryan was not allowed to return to school in their Indiana town. After her son’s death, she continued her son’s legacy of education and empathy by working on getting his book—written by him for other children—published. She wrote the afterword for the book and later had a bill passed that called for federal funding of AIDS education, research, and medical care in her son’s name.