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When Mary Fisher was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 she did not represent the typical stereotype of someone HIV-positive. She was white, heterosexual and contracted the disease in marriage. She used her platform at the Republican National Convention in Texas in 1992 to try and change people's treatment of those carrying the Aids virus.

The speech was broadcast live to millions of people via the major US TV outlets. She argued that she did not want her sons, aged four and two, to face stigma from the "whisper of Aids" once she had died.

It is ranked as one of the most important speeches in the US in the 20th Century. Mary Fisher recalls the moment she delivered the speech to Josephine McDermott.

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(Photo: Mary Fisher delivers her speech in 1992. Credit: AP)