Pessimistic about the world? Have you written off activism as a dead end? Think again. Thanks to the courageous efforts of one activist at a time, we’ve come a long way since the hellish first days of AIDS. Once upon a time, being HIV positive meant early death and having to endure enormous bigotry.
Fortunately, these days we have ways to prevent it. Folks who are tested early and are found to be HIV positive can live long lives with treatment.
Moreover, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is working to end the U.S.’s epidemic within the next ten years!
In addition, it’s working to end discrimination in the U.S. against patients with HIV!
Since 1988, each December, people worldwide show their support to end HIV, both as a disease and as a stigma. We pay our respects to those whose lives have been cut short by it, and to those who live with it.
Here are some of my impressions of the early days of AIDS, which I wrote in reply to my good David Hunt’s post here. He also wrote about it here. Another site with historical information is Gay in the 80s.
Do you ever feel like activism is useless? How do you keep from getting down?
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I am not sure exactly what the AIDS statistics are here in South AFrica now as the cause of death is frequently incorrectly recorded. I don’t believe it is decreasing here though, there are still a lot of new infections among young people.
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Very sad. I hear that elderly are at risk too as many think it only exists among young people…
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Outstanding post! 😀
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Thank you!
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Great!!
Well,AIDS is still a menace to some of the third world countries but Thanks to Activism it’s being curbed at a good rate and victims are getting the know-how of dealing with it…thanks to Activism…
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Activism is awesome! It gives us the power change the world for the better… I keep up with the news and pester my Congressional reps at every turn. As for the environment, I’m a citizen scientist and advocate for monarch butterflies (a near endangered species). We can make a difference!
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That’s wonderful, Bette!
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I lost two friends to AIDS. How I wish they could have hung on till the medications came. But you are right the early campaigners such as Elizabeth Taylor and others brought it to light and spurred action to help.
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So sorry, Anne ❤
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