First off, this is a great blog. Probably because it comes from actual experience. I am a researcher who has worked on SRH and HIV/AIDS issues in Orissa in the last few months, and have, therefore, interacted with many of the people who are particularly vulnerable and active targets of stigma and discrimination.
What the hell, I face stigma when I talk about meeting these people !
Let's face it, we are all sexual beings. We like sex, we have sex, we discuss sex, but we still think of it as a bad part of ourselves. Therein lies the problem where PLHAs are concerned. They must have done something bad for them to be infected today..... that is the thinking. So they need to be reminded of that fact. Over and over so that the point hits home.
It's not their positive status that is terrifying to us, but the reminder that we all have been 'bad' at some point. It is our self-loathing, or at least our non-acceptance of our sexual selves that lead to us stigmatising others for the large part.
OK, so it is our prerogative to have opinions about others. But it cannot be a prerogative to discriminate, actually convert the thought into an action. An action which can and often does demean and decimate another, who, in the first place, is already under attack.
On another note, let's talk about the mind=body connect. PLHAs are already ill physically. What they need is large doses of tender loving care, just the same as any other ill person does. What they actually get is a constant reminder that they are a walking disease, someone whose life is already over. How does that feel, I wonder. I hope I never have to find out.
Rejection is the worst feeling in the world. I know that, and so does everybody else. Let's not forget that.