Jason Robertson (activist)
Template:Short description Jason Robertson (August 28, 1980 – September 4, 2003) was an AIDS activist. He became a symbol for the rights of children with AIDS at age 7, when he sued for, and won, the right to attend regular classes at his elementary school.
Biography
Robertson was diagnosed with AIDS, contracted through blood products used to treat his hemophilia, in 1986. After the diagnosis, he was initially tutored at home, then in isolation in a trailer on the grounds of Prather Elementary School in Granite City, Illinois.<ref>Tom Brune, "2 AIDS kids taking different school paths", Chicago Sun-Times, November 22, 1987.</ref> He became lonely and asked to join regular classes. After the school refused, his family filed a lawsuit and a federal court ruled in his favor under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Donald T. Dickson, HIV, Aids, and the Law: Legal Issues for Social Work Practice and Policy (Transaction Publishers, 2001), Template:ISBN, p. 90. Excerpts available at Google Books.</ref> On his first day walking to school after the ruling, Robertson and his mother were surrounded by protesters chanting "Back to the trailer", while a group of children from the school responded with chants supporting Jason.<ref>" AIDS Child Joins Students In Regular Classroom Amid Protests", Associated Press, May 5, 1988.</ref>
In July 1988, Robertson appeared, along with AIDS activist Ryan White, at a benefit concert by Elton John.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Robertson's family found that the environment in Granite City remained hostile. On one occasion, Robertson's mother was struck in the head by a man unhappy about him returning to school in the fall. The family decided to move.<ref>"Harassed family of boy with AIDS moves", United Press International in Lodi News-Sentinel, August 16, 1988.</ref> They relocated to South Roxana, Illinois, where the school district agreed to treat Jason as a regular student,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Paul de la Garza, "Former Home 'Had Become a War Zone'; Callers Played Funeral Music on Phone; Boy With AIDS Virus Finds a Measure of Peace in New Town", Associated Press in Los Angeles Times, February 19, 1989. Also available as "AIDS children shunned and isolated", Associated Press in The Daily News (Kentucky), February 20, 1989.</ref> and (despite some limited protests<ref>Paul de la Garza, "AIDS child faces protests in new town", Associated Press in The Telegraph (Nashua, NH), September 20, 1988.</ref>) the community reception was more accepting.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>"South Roxana", St Louis Post-Dispatch, October 27, 2006.</ref>
Robertson died in 2003 at age 23, some time after he had decided to stop taking his medication for HIV because it had begun to worsen his hemophilia. The Associated Press story about his death described him as "a symbol of the fight against AIDS discrimination" who "helped other children with the virus overcome its stigma".<ref name="USATodayObit">Template:Cite web</ref>