Twenty-three years ago, a young man’s family announced to the world that he had contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion. Ryan White died before he was able to get his high school diploma or begin a college degree program, but his legacy in the fight against the stigma experienced by people with AIDS lives on.

Two days ago, the House of Representatives passed a bill initiated by the Senate, and the President is expected to sign it into law. This bill reverses the automatic ban issued decades ago against people with AIDS who wish to visit or immigrate to the United States.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that thousands of people with AIDS will flock to the country, but it does offer some indication that Americans are less paralyzed by fear of individuals who are HIV positive. University enrollment could be affected by a small influx of foreign citizens, but it remains too early even to guess at this possibility.

I remember when frightened parents started an alternative school to prevent their children from attending with Ryan White. I remember also the tiny school in Indiana that welcomed him and shook his hand on his first day at a new school in 1987. Somehow, I don’t think that, even as ill as he was toward the end of his life, Ryan White would have chosen to earn a college degree at home.

I never met him, but I saw his face frequently on the news during those years. He looked like a young man who would never be afraid to stand for his ideals, and I had a great deal of respect for him. Not all of us, however, are called to as public a position as this young man. Further, many people with AIDS have too many health problems and spend too much time in the hospital to attend college degree programs.

For these people, the opportunity to earn a degree online is priceless. They can take online degree courses, and get an online Bachelor Degree in accounting, earn a business degree, or even get a computer science degree through a distance degree program. These individuals can work on their education when they are feeling well, and take time off from courses when their health becomes a struggle. In addition to health problems, the virtual interaction with peers and professors means that they don’t have to cope with illness-related stigma.

This new law won’t make the stigma attached to AIDS disappear overnight. It is one more step, however, in our society’s growth against unfair judgments and sanctions against people who live with AIDS. And, thank goodness for online degree universities, which offer these individuals an option to get an education without stigma, judgment, or emotional anguish.