Television Reviews : Teen’s Story Puts Human Face on AIDS Education

“3-2-1 Contact,” the excellent Children’s Television Workshop science series for 8- to 12-year-olds, gives AIDS education a human face on today’s “I Have AIDS: A Teen-Ager’s Story,” airing at 6:30 p.m. on KCET Channel 28.

There are diagrams and charts, narration and commentary, but mainly there is Ryan White, the Indiana boy who came to national attention in 1985 when he was barred from attending school because he had the AIDS virus.

Ryan, a remarkably articulate, mature 16, talks about the disease--how he got it (through contaminated blood while being treated for his hemophilia), what it is and how it has affected his life.

The presentation is unsentimental, but it is difficult not to be moved by the courage and commitment of Ryan and the community that welcomed him when he and his family were forced to move.

Ryan’s new school, Hamilton Heights High, did what this half-hour has the potential to do: dispel fear through education. Before Ryan began attending Hamilton, the school shut down all regular courses of study and put students, teachers and parents through two weeks of intensive AIDS education.

As a result, instead of being ostracized and tormented, Ryan White became just another kid going to school.

As one of his peers put it: “(AIDS) is going to be here a long time and we have to get used to dealing with it now.”

This program can help.