Many people across the world are infected with the deadly disease known as AIDS. This disease can be transmitted from one person to another through many ways such as sexually intercourse, blood transfusions, and sharing needles that are not sterilized. Today, scientists are still trying to discover a cure for HIV/AIDS. Many who are infected with HIV/AIDS have not only to cope with the disease itself, but they could possibly experience AIDS discrimination as well.
In some cases, those who have HIV/AIDS are discriminated against because of some people’s ignorance about AIDS, the association of HIV/AIDS with homosexuality, and other’s fear of being discriminated against because of association with one who is infected. The lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS is a possible cause of why some people unfairly judge those infected. Many people know that this disease can be fatal but are not informed about how HIV/AIDS is transmitted, which may cause them to fear AIDS and those who are infected.
For example, people may not know that it is not possible for AIDS to be airborne and may think that they could possibly contract this disease just by being associated with a person who is infected with HIV/AIDS. Therefore, this assumption may cause people to fear being near someone who has contracted AIDS. “The AIDS Crisis: A Documentary History” states that “fear and ignorance lead to discrimination against people who are infected with HIV?
” (Feldmen and Miller 216). As a result of this ignorance and fear, many of those infected have been evicted from their homes, fired from their jobs, threatened, and excluded from school because others were afraid of being infected (216). Because of this discrimination, it may be difficult for some of those infected to obtain a steady job or find a place to live. The association of HIV/AIDS with homosexuality is also a cause of AIDS discrimination.
Since many of those who are infected are homosexuals, some people feel as though gay sexual activities play a major role in the development and spread of HIV/AIDS. The Canadian AIDS Society states that ” In the early days of the AIDS epidemic in North America, gay men were most affected by HIV/AIDS” (Gay and Lesbian Legal Issues and HIV/AIDS). Because homosexuality is known to be connected with HIV/AIDS, some homophobes may discriminate against those who are infected with this disease.
The Canadian AIDS Society also indicates that the link in people’s minds between homosexuality and AIDS is so firmly established that discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS is inseparable from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (Gay and Lesbian Legal Issues and HIV/AIDS). For instance, if an employer of a business who happens to be homophobic discovers that one of his applicants is HIV positive, the employer may chose not to interview him because he is assumed to be homosexual if the applicant is infected with this disease.
As a result, one who has AIDS could be unemployed because of homophobic discrimination in the workplace. Another possible cause of AIDS discrimination is the fear of being discriminated against due to the association with one who is infected with HIV/AIDS. In some cases, not only do people unfairly judge those infected with the disease, but they also discriminate against those who are associated with others who are infected.
If those who are infected with HIV/AIDS are excluded from school because they contracted this disease, others who are associates or friends with those infected could possibly be excluded as well because they were assumed to be infected due to their association with those who are HIV positive. The AIDS Crisis: A Documentary History says that ” HIV-related discrimination is most often directed against three groups of people: those who “have AIDS,” those who are assumed to “have AIDS,” and those who live with or associate with people who have or are assumed to “have AIDS” (Feldman and Miller 216).
To avoid this misjudgment, some people may diminish any sort of contact with people who are infected. For example, a male student has a roommate who became infected with AIDS, and because he knows that AIDS is known to be a “homosexual disease,” he moves out and avoid all contact with his roommate to protect is masculinity because he does not want to be mistaking for a homosexual or someone who is HIV positive. The end of friendships is a possibly outcome of this situation, and those infected could become lonely and depressed.
In conclusion, HIV/AIDS continues to spread, being transmitted from one person to another. Some people infected experience discrimination regularly. Because those infected have to cope with their illness and being unfairly mistreated, deep depression and possibly suicide could be the aftermath. Although AIDS discrimination may never completely end, there are still ways to decrease this unjust judgment and the effects.
Informing people about HIV/AIDS, its effects, and how it can be transmitted could eliminate the confusion and ignorance about the disease thus causing AIDS discrimination to decrease. Support groups could also help those infected to cope with their illness as well as discrimination.
WORKS CITED Feldman, A. Douglas and Julia Wang Miller. The AIDS Crisis: A Documentary History. Greenwood Press, 1998 : 216. Gay and Lesbian Legal Issues and HIV/AIDS: The Final Report. Canadian AIDS Society and Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, March 1999 .