Education Prevents Prejudice Against AIDS
By Angela Howser
My husband was working as a medical technician in a large, inner-city hospital in 1989 when he went to get the vitals of a teenage boy, isolated at the end of a hall.
"Hi," my husband introduced himself to the patient, telling him his name and extending his hand for a shake. "I’m here to..."
"What are you doing?" the young man asked, not offering his own hand in return.
"Well, I’m here to take your blood pressure, get your temperature— "
"No," the teenager interrupted. "I mean, why are you wanting to shake my hand without a glove on it? Didn’t they tell you what I’ve got?"
My husband glanced at the chart. "Well, I see you’re here for an infection."
"No, I mean what I’ve got," the boy said emphatically. "I’ve got AIDS. Why do you want to shake my hand? Aren’t you afraid you’re gonna get it?"
My husband shrugged. "I can’t get AIDS from shaking your hand."
"Well, nobody else wants to touch me."
"You mean your family? Your friends?"
"Not just them," insisted the young man.
My husband looked at him measuredly. "You mean the food service people, the med techs?" Still the answer was "not just them." My husband tried again, this time with dawning astonishment – and dismay. "You mean the doctors and nurses?"
"Yes," said the young man. "Everybody’s afraid they’re gonna get it if somebody like me can get it. They all make sure they’re real careful when they have to touch me."
My husband, instead of drawing back, again extended his ungloved hand. This time the young man took it, and gave it a firm shake as he started to cry. "It’s alright," my husband told him. "People can really be cruel, but not everybody’s that way."
The unfortunate part of this story is that even 13 years later, people are still being cruel, more so since HIV/AIDS has gone from being an "inner-city" condition to a worldwide pandemic that reaches to the rural areas of Illinois.
From its murky appearance in 1959 to the recognition of a condition in 1981 to the isolation of the virus in 1983, what can be said about acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and the bug that most likely causes it, the human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV), is that it is still very much misunderstood. Like the hospital personnel, friends and family of the young man my husband had as a patient, most folds still shy away from someone who has AIDS, afraid that somehow, they will contract the deadly disease.
The biggest problem with HIV/AIDS is that back in the early ‘80s, some influential yet unthinking individual tagged it as a "gay disease" and walked off after the tag, leaving everyone to deal with such a concept in their own way. When in the ‘90s it became apparent that AIDS was not gender-preferential, yet another group of unthinking people determined that those with the disease were "promiscuous," along with the "dopeheads," IV drug users scavenging in the depths of poverty. At the end of the millennium, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that in the United States, close to one million people were living with HIV or AIDS. Worldwide in 2001, an estimated three million adults and children died of the disease. Clearly, not all of these people were "queers," "promiscuous," or "dopeheads."
Because of the stigmas that were attached to the pandemic, many even in areas of the country where HIV/AIDS are prevalent have kept themselves in a condition of denial, believing that since they don’t fit the demographic, they aren’t affected by the disease and are not at risk. With this mode of thinking being so commonplace in metro areas, it should not be surprising that the sentiment may be stronger in rural areas of America.
This thinking is dangerous on two levels, however. First, no one living on this planet should think AIDS will never affect them in some way. The United Nations AIDS group (UNAIDS) has estimated that approximately 60 million people have been infected with HIV since the start of the global epidemic. If that 60 million had been infected with smallpox, the global community would have already rallied forces to solve the problem and there certainly would be no stigma attached. Think of it that way, then ask yourself if you remain "unaffected" by the disease, especially if you are a young person just starting out your life (half the people newly infected with HIV are under age 25). Denial may lead to the continuance of the risky behaviors that spread the disease – and that includes some behaviors that are blithely accepted even in rural areas of Southern Illinois.
Secondly, denial may also mean turning a blind eye to the truth of the matter. While some choose to deny that their behavior is risky, some choose to take action against those who they "think" may suffer from HIV/AIDS. This is called prejudice, an ugly thing that can be embraced by any race, gender, creed or religion, and can be especially brutal for HIV victims, who may feel isolated and alone with the disease. But, in small rural communities, such a matter of thinking may be the norm, and as commonly accepted as those risky behaviors are.
What can bring about a solution for both ways of thinking is education. Coming out of denial and realizing that AIDS, through blood-to-blood or sexual contact, can affect any person under the right circumstances goes a long way toward changing behaviors and prejudices. Knowing that Illinois is the number seven state in America most affected by AIDS and knowing that someone you know right here in Southern Illinois may be infected goes a long way toward reducing risks as well as prejudices. Understanding of the disease has even been an eye-opener for me; when living in big cities and overseas, I knew many friends and acquaintances who suffered from HIV infections. However, upon moving back to Southern Illinois, I discovered that a relative of mine, someone who had brought nothing but sunshine to my life for almost 20 years, was living with the disease. It’s not just limited to those big cities nor to sub-Saharan Africa; it’s right here, and it’s real.
The fifteenth World AIDS Day was December 1, 2002. For you who live in the bigger cities in our area of the country, there may have been candlelight vigils or memorials for you to attend. However, for those who live in small, rural Southern Illinois communities there may not be any kind of observation for you to attend, or you may simply not want to do so. If not, do yourself and others a favor – educate yourself. The truth about AIDS is out there, in rural health clinics, brochures, your doctor’s offices, your library, as well as on radio, television, newspaper and the internet. Learn ways the disease is spread so that you may keep yourself from becoming a victim of AIDS. And learn the ways the disease is not spread, so that others do not become victims of the opportunistic infection of prejudice that the uneducated carry.