Aids (people living with aids
Since the appearance of AIDS in the late seventies and early eighties, the disease has had attached to it a significant social stigma. This stigma has manifested itself in the forms of discrimination and fear of "people living with AIDS" (PLWAs). As a result, the social implications of the disease have been removed from people with other life threatening conditions to PLWAs. Unfortunately, they are not only faced with a terminal illness but also social isolation and constant discrimination throughout society. Various explanations have been suggested as to the underlying causes of thesediscriminatory stigmas. Many studies point to the relationship the disease has with deviant behavior, while others suggest that fear of contagion is the actual culprit. When examining the existing literature and putting it into societal context, it could lead one to believe that there is no one cause of this societal phobia. Instead, there would appear to be associated factors that influence society's attitudes towards AIDS and PLWAs. Hopefully, this analysis will offer an examination of the stigmatization process associated with AIDS and how to counter the effects of stigma. This is of particular pertinence to the field of social work due to our
The fact that AIDS is associated with already stigmatized groups has two principal effects. Although not all social workers chose to work with PLWAs, the escalating incidences of HIV infection has created a situation in which sera positive people are and will be showing up more often in almost all areas of social work practice. , 1996 feel that education for social workers is not enough and that experience is also essential. In recent years, a distinction has been made in our society between what we consider to be innocent and deserving victims of AIDS. You can not shake your fist in God's face and get away with it" (Giblin, 1995). In the 1980s, school children who had contracted HIV through blood transfusions were stigmatized almost as badly as homosexuals and often not even allowed to attend public schools. As a result, homosexuals, prostitutes, people !of color and other groups associated to HIV infection are not only seen as deviant or undesirable, but also as potential carriers of the virus who are to be feared and avoided. As a result, a strong association has also been made between AIDS and people of color (Quam, 1990). ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**Since the appearance of AIDS in the late seventies and early eighties, the disease has had attached to it a significant social stigma. This is reinforced by the findings of Herek and Capitanio (1997) who determined that contact with PLWAs is the strongest variable in lowering AIDS related stigma. As mentioned, PLWAs suffer from discrimination in a variety of settings. They noticed that people actually expressed quite sympathetic feelings towards people who played no active role in contraction, the innocent victims. As a result, the word AIDS alone conjures, for many, images of those who stray from what society has deemed normal behavior. At the same time that he was being excluded from public schools, a family with two seropositive children was forced to leave the Florida town they were living in after threats of violence and an arson fire in their home (Giblin, 1995 & Quam, 1990). In fact, until 1982 the disease was referred to as GRID or Gay Related Immune Deficiency.
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Acceptance Essays
