SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
This Persistent Prejudice Against AIDS Sufferers
Dec 05, 2005
A recent survey showed that most people say they wouldn't discriminate against someone because they were HIV positive. Others believe HIV prejudice went out with the eighties, and that we live in an AIDS aware era. The reality is different.
True, images of HIV positive children from Africa often appear on our TV, but silence surrounds the rising numbers of people becoming infected with HIV in this country. And that same silence allows the persistence of prejudice towards people living with HIV, and ignorance about how it is passed on.
It is almost inconceivable that after 20 years of campaigning, HIV charities such as the National AIDS Trust still hear from people who have been harassed at work, unfairly dismissed from jobs and rejected by friends and relatives -all as a result of being diagnosed with a long-term medical condition.
Recent figures show that HIV rates are on the increase, and in the UK the number of new cases have more than doubled in the past four years. With rising numbers of people affected, the need to challenge prejudice is more important than ever.
There is however, cause for hope. Today a loophole in disability discrimination law is being closed so that people living with HIV are protected from discrimination as soon as they are diagnosed. Importantly, this includes protection at work.
I have met and worked with many HIV-positive people and what unites them is the desire to be treated like anyone else. Yet, since the emergence of HIV, the virus has become inextricably linked with fear and blame, preventing many people from being open about their HIV status. Not only do they fear rejection and gossip from relatives and friends, but risk losing their job if they reveal their HIV status to their employer.
In developed countries, the majority of people living with HIV are of working age and have access to life-saving anti-retroviral treatment that enables them to lead active healthy lives. Yet, some 20 years into the epidemic, HIV remains a stigmatized condition, where many people living with HIV feel pressured to maintain silence about their condition for fear of exclusion and dismissal at work.
In the early days of the epidemic, grand gestures were made against HIV discrimination and films such as Philadelphia were lauded as landmarks, exposing ignorance and prejudice about HIV at work. But over 20 years later, are we any nearer the goal of treating people living with HIV as ordinary people with a long-term medical condition, or are we continuing to propagate a culture of fear and blame?
Some employers may mistakenly believe that this is not an issue for them because they have no HIV-positive employees. The reality is that many employers are already employing people living with HIV, they simply don't know it.
From 5 December 2005, the moment a person is diagnosed with HIV, discrimination based on their HIV status is illegal. Any employer who still thinks they can ignore their statutory obligations may be in for a rude awakening. They have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to protect their HIV positive employees from discrimination and prevent harassment.
They are also required not to discriminate against someone living with HIV in recruitment practices. Ignoring their responsibilities brings not only the risk of employment tribunals, but the danger of wasting the skills and talents of people living with HIV.
We live in a paradoxical culture where we are taking great strides towards tolerance and diversity through the law, yet irrational prejudice and discrimination against people living with HIV continues. The Governments' Equalities Review, whose aim is the modernization and streamlining of equality legislation into a single equality Act, and the establishment of a single Commission for Equality and Human Rights, offers real hope for effective action against discrimination on the grounds of HIV status, which is often linked to homophobia and racism.
All this is tangible evidence of the Government's commitment to equality and justice. However, campaigners will want to see evidence that this commitment will be carried forward into the conclusions of the Equalities Review.
Ultimately, it is not just the law that needs to change, but the attitudes and behavior of every individual, if we are to ensure that the unacceptable treatment of people living with HIV is eradicated. The extension of disability discrimination legislation is to be celebrated as a signal that we, as a society, recognize that HIV discrimination has no place at work.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 The Independent
Bianca Jagger
Bianca Jagger is a prominent international human rights and climate change advocate. She is the Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador, Member of the Executive Director's Leadership Council of Amnesty International USA, Trustee of the Amazon Charitable Trust, and on the advisory board of the Creative Coalition. For over 30 years, Bianca Jagger has campaigned for human rights, social and economic justice and environmental protection throughout the world.
A recent survey showed that most people say they wouldn't discriminate against someone because they were HIV positive. Others believe HIV prejudice went out with the eighties, and that we live in an AIDS aware era. The reality is different.
True, images of HIV positive children from Africa often appear on our TV, but silence surrounds the rising numbers of people becoming infected with HIV in this country. And that same silence allows the persistence of prejudice towards people living with HIV, and ignorance about how it is passed on.
It is almost inconceivable that after 20 years of campaigning, HIV charities such as the National AIDS Trust still hear from people who have been harassed at work, unfairly dismissed from jobs and rejected by friends and relatives -all as a result of being diagnosed with a long-term medical condition.
Recent figures show that HIV rates are on the increase, and in the UK the number of new cases have more than doubled in the past four years. With rising numbers of people affected, the need to challenge prejudice is more important than ever.
There is however, cause for hope. Today a loophole in disability discrimination law is being closed so that people living with HIV are protected from discrimination as soon as they are diagnosed. Importantly, this includes protection at work.
I have met and worked with many HIV-positive people and what unites them is the desire to be treated like anyone else. Yet, since the emergence of HIV, the virus has become inextricably linked with fear and blame, preventing many people from being open about their HIV status. Not only do they fear rejection and gossip from relatives and friends, but risk losing their job if they reveal their HIV status to their employer.
In developed countries, the majority of people living with HIV are of working age and have access to life-saving anti-retroviral treatment that enables them to lead active healthy lives. Yet, some 20 years into the epidemic, HIV remains a stigmatized condition, where many people living with HIV feel pressured to maintain silence about their condition for fear of exclusion and dismissal at work.
In the early days of the epidemic, grand gestures were made against HIV discrimination and films such as Philadelphia were lauded as landmarks, exposing ignorance and prejudice about HIV at work. But over 20 years later, are we any nearer the goal of treating people living with HIV as ordinary people with a long-term medical condition, or are we continuing to propagate a culture of fear and blame?
Some employers may mistakenly believe that this is not an issue for them because they have no HIV-positive employees. The reality is that many employers are already employing people living with HIV, they simply don't know it.
From 5 December 2005, the moment a person is diagnosed with HIV, discrimination based on their HIV status is illegal. Any employer who still thinks they can ignore their statutory obligations may be in for a rude awakening. They have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to protect their HIV positive employees from discrimination and prevent harassment.
They are also required not to discriminate against someone living with HIV in recruitment practices. Ignoring their responsibilities brings not only the risk of employment tribunals, but the danger of wasting the skills and talents of people living with HIV.
We live in a paradoxical culture where we are taking great strides towards tolerance and diversity through the law, yet irrational prejudice and discrimination against people living with HIV continues. The Governments' Equalities Review, whose aim is the modernization and streamlining of equality legislation into a single equality Act, and the establishment of a single Commission for Equality and Human Rights, offers real hope for effective action against discrimination on the grounds of HIV status, which is often linked to homophobia and racism.
All this is tangible evidence of the Government's commitment to equality and justice. However, campaigners will want to see evidence that this commitment will be carried forward into the conclusions of the Equalities Review.
Ultimately, it is not just the law that needs to change, but the attitudes and behavior of every individual, if we are to ensure that the unacceptable treatment of people living with HIV is eradicated. The extension of disability discrimination legislation is to be celebrated as a signal that we, as a society, recognize that HIV discrimination has no place at work.
Bianca Jagger
Bianca Jagger is a prominent international human rights and climate change advocate. She is the Founder and Chair of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador, Member of the Executive Director's Leadership Council of Amnesty International USA, Trustee of the Amazon Charitable Trust, and on the advisory board of the Creative Coalition. For over 30 years, Bianca Jagger has campaigned for human rights, social and economic justice and environmental protection throughout the world.
A recent survey showed that most people say they wouldn't discriminate against someone because they were HIV positive. Others believe HIV prejudice went out with the eighties, and that we live in an AIDS aware era. The reality is different.
True, images of HIV positive children from Africa often appear on our TV, but silence surrounds the rising numbers of people becoming infected with HIV in this country. And that same silence allows the persistence of prejudice towards people living with HIV, and ignorance about how it is passed on.
It is almost inconceivable that after 20 years of campaigning, HIV charities such as the National AIDS Trust still hear from people who have been harassed at work, unfairly dismissed from jobs and rejected by friends and relatives -all as a result of being diagnosed with a long-term medical condition.
Recent figures show that HIV rates are on the increase, and in the UK the number of new cases have more than doubled in the past four years. With rising numbers of people affected, the need to challenge prejudice is more important than ever.
There is however, cause for hope. Today a loophole in disability discrimination law is being closed so that people living with HIV are protected from discrimination as soon as they are diagnosed. Importantly, this includes protection at work.
I have met and worked with many HIV-positive people and what unites them is the desire to be treated like anyone else. Yet, since the emergence of HIV, the virus has become inextricably linked with fear and blame, preventing many people from being open about their HIV status. Not only do they fear rejection and gossip from relatives and friends, but risk losing their job if they reveal their HIV status to their employer.
In developed countries, the majority of people living with HIV are of working age and have access to life-saving anti-retroviral treatment that enables them to lead active healthy lives. Yet, some 20 years into the epidemic, HIV remains a stigmatized condition, where many people living with HIV feel pressured to maintain silence about their condition for fear of exclusion and dismissal at work.
In the early days of the epidemic, grand gestures were made against HIV discrimination and films such as Philadelphia were lauded as landmarks, exposing ignorance and prejudice about HIV at work. But over 20 years later, are we any nearer the goal of treating people living with HIV as ordinary people with a long-term medical condition, or are we continuing to propagate a culture of fear and blame?
Some employers may mistakenly believe that this is not an issue for them because they have no HIV-positive employees. The reality is that many employers are already employing people living with HIV, they simply don't know it.
From 5 December 2005, the moment a person is diagnosed with HIV, discrimination based on their HIV status is illegal. Any employer who still thinks they can ignore their statutory obligations may be in for a rude awakening. They have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to protect their HIV positive employees from discrimination and prevent harassment.
They are also required not to discriminate against someone living with HIV in recruitment practices. Ignoring their responsibilities brings not only the risk of employment tribunals, but the danger of wasting the skills and talents of people living with HIV.
We live in a paradoxical culture where we are taking great strides towards tolerance and diversity through the law, yet irrational prejudice and discrimination against people living with HIV continues. The Governments' Equalities Review, whose aim is the modernization and streamlining of equality legislation into a single equality Act, and the establishment of a single Commission for Equality and Human Rights, offers real hope for effective action against discrimination on the grounds of HIV status, which is often linked to homophobia and racism.
All this is tangible evidence of the Government's commitment to equality and justice. However, campaigners will want to see evidence that this commitment will be carried forward into the conclusions of the Equalities Review.
Ultimately, it is not just the law that needs to change, but the attitudes and behavior of every individual, if we are to ensure that the unacceptable treatment of people living with HIV is eradicated. The extension of disability discrimination legislation is to be celebrated as a signal that we, as a society, recognize that HIV discrimination has no place at work.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.