August 11, 2017 BY imani leave a comment
With a simple handwritten message, Dustin Thompson of Long Beach told the world that he has HIV. In the photo, which was tweeted to the more than 1800 followers of AIDS Services Foundation Orange County, Thompson, 34, holds a whiteboard emblazoned with #ImPositive and his own words: “I am positive and I am not ashamed!”
This summer, the Irvine, CA nonprofit launched a social media campaign designed to fight HIV stigma, which fuels spread of the disease, by sharing photos and personal statements from local residents with HIV/AIDS.
“It’s who I am now,” said Thompson. “There’s nothing I can do about that except take care of myself and help prevent it being spread to anybody else.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says stigma prevents some people from getting tested and treated for HIV while also leading to “perceived discrimination, fear and anxiety.” Treatment not only preserves health, but can help decrease the risk of transmission to others.
Unlike other serious conditions such as cancer, survivors of which may proudly identify themselves, HIV remains mired in shame because of misconceptions about the disease or the taboo subjects of sex and drug use.
In 1987, during the height of the AIDS epidemic, 43 percent of Americans surveyed said the disease might be God’s punishment for immoral behavior, according to the Pew Research Center.
“When you’re talking about stigma, that can potentially cause a delay in acting,” said Tamarra Jones, who oversees HIV prevention for the Orange County Health Care Agency. “That means later to test, later to identify that you’re positive, and later to get into care. Once in care, you may fall out of care more easily because you don’t want people to know what’s going on in your life.”
Jones praised the courage of those who are sharing their status publicly. The photos are also being posted on AIDS Services Foundation’s Facebook page.
“When you see people’s faces and they’re saying, ‘I’m positive,’ you’re saying, ‘That looks like my aunt, my cousin, my brother,’ ” she said. “In the images I’ve seen, they don’t look sick, they don’t meet the stereotype.”
Check out others stories of survival on twitter at #ImPositive.