160 AIDS : TRADING FEARS FOR FACTS
Spreading the Facts, Not the Fears, About the AIDS Virus
The future course of the AIDS epidemic depends on several things, including medical advances. But equally important will be whether or not we accept the problems of infected people as our own and work with them to find solutions and improve their lives. How well this can be done depends on you—on what you know, on what you feel, and on what you do.
What you know is an important factor. The facts can ease your mind when you hear false rumors about the dangers of casual contact. They can give you the courage to offer emotional support to people with HIV or AIDS. The facts can help you overcome unfounded fears, so you won’t be so scared if an infected person lives next door to you or is in your school. You can tell your family and friends the facts about AIDS. Then they, too, will know about the disease and have compassion for the infected.
What you feel about people with HIV or AIDS is also important. Do you blame certain groups of people for spreading HIV? How do you feel toward people who have the AIDS virus? Now that you've learned the facts about AIDS, look again at the three questions that were asked in the introduction to this book:
What if you found out that the person who held this book before you had AIDS? Would you still hold it and read it? Or would you want to throw it away?
What if you knew that the person who sat behind you in English class had HIV? How would you feel when he coughed or sneezed near you?
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Image Caption:
“It won’t kill you to spend time with a friend who has AIDS. Give him your support and passion. He needs you.”
Image Credit:
Copyright 1988 Clement Communications Inc.
Would you join a protest group that wanted him to stay home?
Suppose your best friend told you she had HIV? Could you still be close friends with her? Or would you start to avoid her?
162 AIDS: TRADING FEARS FOR FACTS
What if you found out that the person who held this book before you had AIDS? Would you still hold it and read it? Or would you want to throw it away?
What you do, along with your family, friends, and community members, will directly affect the future course of the AIDS epidemic. The future will present situations that will challenge your belief in the facts. If you fall in love with a person who once used drugs, will you be able to talk about HIV? If you have sex, will you insist on safer-sex practices? If you hear that people with AIDS are staying in the nursing home where your grandmother lives, which group of protestors will you join—the one that wants them removed or the one that says that HIV-infected people deserve help and support? If a neighbor becomes ill with an HIV-related disease, will you offer to bring him food and do some shopping? If someone with HIV infection in your school is being ridiculed, yelled at, or isolated, will you defend her right to be educated and respected?
Teenagers across the country are learning the facts about AIDS and doing something to fight the epidemic. Some teenagers in San Francisco had a rap song contest to help spread the truth about AIDS. Other teenagers in California have helped sew a giant quilt made of over 8,000 cloth panels. Each three-
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Image Caption:
The AIDS memorial quilt, called the NAMES Project, on exhibit in Washington, D.C. The quilt has over 8,000 panels. Each three-foot-by-six-foot panel displays the name of someone who died from AIDS.
Image Credit:
Janet Woodcock.
Image Caption:
Mourners at the AIDS memorial quilt.
Image Credit:
Janet Woodcock.
164 AIDS: TRADING FEARS FOR FACTS
foot-by-six-foot panel displays the name of a person who died from AIDS. The teens helped other volunteers keep track of donated fabric. They hemmed the cloth panels and helped sew names of the dead. They got involved in a project that will remind everyone who sees it that the people who die of AIDS are not just statistics. Each is a real person with a real name and a unique story.
Another AIDS project that relies on the volunteer help of teenagers is the Teen AIDS Hotline in Maryland. The hotline is run primarily by teenagers. They learn how to answer commonly asked questions by going to a seminar about AIDS and by asking each other questions. They keep up on the most recent information about HIV and AIDS by reading articles. These teenagers learn the details of the epidemic and at the same time share the information with everyone who calls for help.
You, too, can help in the fight against AIDS. Through your family, youth group, church, synagogue, or school, you might:
Set up or volunteer to work on a hotline for AIDS information.
Create a group to encourage discussion among your friends and classmates about the impact of AIDS and the HIV epidemic.
Organize a fundraiser (car wash, bake sale, magazine drive, etc ) to help support medical services, research, community services, and AIDS education.
Organize a debate to get facts and feelings out in the open.
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Image Caption:
Maude “Manny” Dull is a 17-year-old student at McAteer High School in San Francisco. Manny spends much of her free time as a volunteer, helping people with AIDS with such normal, day-to-day activities as cleaning, shopping, making appointments, talking
