Fighting the Stigma

HIV/AIDS in the Workplace

Jasmine Miller, DC ‘17

AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc (1986)

AIDS causes blindness.

• Stigma of HIV/AIDs in the workplace• Termination, lack of

insurance, etc

• Misleading info dangerous to everyone

• Physical blindness in those w/HIV/AIDS

• Emotional/mental blindness in others who feared/ostracized those w/disease

Framing of a Disease

• Initially seen as disease of the “other”• Dehumanizing

• Shifts responsibility to those with the disease

• Sufferers seen as dirty, contaminated

• The person is not the disease• Suppress judgment in order

to recognize humanity

• Provide more accurate information on how the disease is contracted

• Make HIV/AIDS okay to discuss in public/workplace/etc

Source information

• Photograph: "Visual Culture - HIV/AIDS - Solidarity and Human Rights." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 08 Sept. 2011. Web. 24 Sept. 2014.

• Photograph reposted by the U.S. NLM with permission from the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc