Human Rights, Stigma and Discrimination
- Advocating for the Rights of Persons Infected and Affected by HIV -
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Photo courtesy of JFLAG |
As an organisation with a rights-based mission, Jamaica AIDS Support is committed to tackling stigma and discrimination as issues deserving critical attention in the Jamaican and wider Caribbean context. In this regard, the organisation launched its 2004 - 2005 anti-stigma and discrimination campaign on October 26, 2004, with the issuing of a position statement regarding stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive and other vulnerable persons. The campaign will address discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS, particularly women and their children, sex workers and men who have sex with men. Through documentaries, public service announcements, dialogue with different social actors and opinion leaders in Jamaica, JAS will explore the logic of prejudice against these groups in Jamaica and where possible intervene to mitigate it.
Stigma related to HIV/AIDS is a psychosocial and community response to the epidemic, while discrimination is the prejudicial behaviour that results from stigma. Typically stigma and discrimination have resulted in the prejudicial treatment of persons seen as representing a threat to society. In the case of HIV/AIDS, that threat is perceived as relating to the possibility that persons living with or believed to be living with the illness are contaminated or are highly infectious. Thus, many persons living with HIV are routinely excluded from social interactions; many are deprived of adequate healthcare while others are abandoned by their families, leaving them with little or no means of taking care of themselves or to certain death. In other instances, children born to parents with the virus, even if they themselves are HIV negative, may sometimes be denied access to education because teachers and parents of other students fear that the presence of HIV positive students in their schools might put their children at risk.
For too long stigma and discrimination have been features of Jamaica's response to the HIV epidemic, driving those who are HIV-positive underground, and preventing communities who need services and information from coming forward to seek these in a safe and supportive environment.
Although HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination may be understood as a reaction to the HIV epidemic, it may also be seen as a reinforcement of pre-existent reactions to other groups in society, especially those who have been blamed for spread of the disease. In the Caribbean context, this has usually meant that gay men and sex workers have seen their status as excluded or marginalised groups unworthy of sharing to public space exacerbated by HIV and AIDS. Indeed, the fact that HIV is spread primarily through sexual intercourse makes it easy for persons with negative views about homosexuality and sex work to behave prejudicially towards people living with HIV/AIDS.
There are a number of ways in which stigma and discrimination are manifested against gay men and sex workers. One of these relates to confidentiality when seeking healthcare. MSM and sex workers accessing the public health delivery system often find that their stories are treated as not deserving of the same kind of strict confidence afforded other members of the public. In this sense, the manner in which some healthcare workers treat gay men and sex workers helps to reinforce their status as marginalised groups.
As part of its anti-stigma campaign for 2004 - 2005, JAS will be posting to this webpage stories of stigma and discrimination against HIV-positive and other vulnerable persons to give a voice to those whose abuse is covered over and ignored by wider society. Posted here will also be stories of kindness and service towards members of marginalised communities from across Jamaica.
To help us, we have trained persons across the island to document instances of stigma and discrimination as well as instances of good treatment of persons living with HIV and AIDS and vulnerable groups. This community work will be complemented by a media component that challenges us to think about how some of these issues of discrimination and violence against vulnerable groups affect the lives of all of us in Jamaica. This webpage is one element in that media campaign. All of the stories posted to this site took place less than one month before being posted.
Stories of violence and abuse
The case of a PLWHA
Andrea is in her 40s and has known for a year that she is HIV-positive. Before she tested positive, she lived with her grandfather and her four children in her grandfather's house in a depressed community in downtown Kingston. When her grandfather found out that she was HIV-positive he went into a rage. He told her she and her children had to leave his house immediately. Desperate, Andrea begged for a few days, and over that time, was able to convince him to let her three HIV-negative children stay as she had nowhere to go and nowhere to take them. He agreed but only if she left the house. She stays with friends when she can, and is only able to see her children when she visits the house late at nights. On these occasions she must leave early in the morning before he wakes up. If her grandfather sees her, he beats her in front of her children, and abuses her as a contaminated woman.
The case of two gay men
On the night of Tuesday, October 11, a distress call came in to JAS from a group of young gay men. They said they had been on their way from Liguanea to Half-Way in the Kingston Metropolitan Area, when they were approached by several men who called one of them a "battyman" (derogatory term for a gay man). A member of the group asked how they knew that the guy was a "battyman" and they accused him of also being a "battyman" and attacked him with a broken beer bottle. The guys said they managed to escape by quickly jumping onto a public bus that was passing. Fearing that their assailants would pursue them, they got off the bus a few stops before it reached Half-Way Tree, preferring to walk rather than to be seen getting off the bus there. Upon their arrival in Half-Way Tree, the men, along with other groups of people, were waiting for them. One young man was attacked and stabbed. The others ran to the nearby Half-Way Tree police station, where they remained safe temporarily from the mob. However, the police, on hearing their story, said that since they were "battymen", they should be dealt with by the mob. In addition, the police refused to transport the injured young man to the hospital until his condition had worsened. The group was rescued from the police station by a JAS staff member and volunteer. In the meantime, the young men were unaware of the whereabouts of one member of their group. It was later learnt that he had been wounded in the melee and taken to hospital.
Stories of hope
Helpful policemen
On Tuesday, October 19, a young man from a depressed Kingston neighbourhood came to JAS to report that he had to flee his community. He had come under attack, he said, from men in the neighbourhood who had been told by his landlady that he was a homosexual. He reported the incident to the Half-Way Tree police station. A group of seven policemen accompanied him to remove his belongings from the house. The young man said the policemen were extremely helpful. He said they gave the landlady a stern warning that she had no right to accuse him of being a homosexual.
Jason's Story
I am eighteen years old and I got tested for HIV/AIDS when I was seventeen. I started having sex when I was twelve years old. I used to go to a Junior High School in Kingston and in 9th grade I started getting rude. I skulled class, took out light bulbs and smashed them, wrote on desks and once I even stole the teacher's desk and hid it.
One day I quarreled with a girl at the start of an exam and threatened her. The Principal was angry and told me I would not be graduating. The exam results were not good and even though my mother went to the principal and begged for me, she did not relent. My mother placed me in a school for slow learners, but that did not work out and eventually my mother suggested that I find a trade so I did, right in the yard in which I was living, I started to do welding.
I had been working for a year when I realized that rashes had come up on my skin and they weren't going away. My mother thought that they were caused from the sparks from the torch, but my boss did not. I got my pay and went to the Comprehensive Health Clinic. I got a docket and Nurse soon called me in. She asked me some questions and allowed me to see the doctor who told me to come back the following day. As I left the nurse told me she thought it was scabies. I gave my mother the news and also my boss who said it was catching and that I was to go back to the doctor.
I went back to the clinic but this time I was sent to a different section. When the doctor came he said that I needed a blood test and gave me pre-test counseling. He drew the blood, told me to come back tomorrow, and I left with no doubt in my mind that the result would be negative.
Next day I went back to Section 4. A lady called out my name and asked me to accompany her to a room. She asked me to have a seat. She said, “You remember the blood that was drawn?” I said, “Yes” . She said, “I am going to tell you the result. You are HIV positive” . I laughed, “You a joke!!!!!” . She had to repeat it three times and show me the test results before I believed it. She did the post- test counseling with me and spent a good deal of time with me.
I went back to the first nurse who had told me I had scabies and I wanted to lick her with one of the iron chairs and to go outside and hit everyone I saw. But I was stopped by someone carrying a knife.
I went home and my mother asked for the test result. I told her that it was fine because I wanted to protect her.
I decided I wanted to die by jumping off a cliff. I went out and found a cliff. I was standing kicking off stones over the edge.
A gentleman came from nowhere and said, “Hold on, hold on”
I said, “You can call the police. You will find my body down there”
The gentleman talked and talked to me and eventually I came back from the cliff edge. We sat on a rock and talked. He said, “I have three words to tell you---- any problem you inna, you can come out of.”
We parted company and I have never seen him again.
I went back to the clinic and asked for the results and was told them again. I walked home and as I opened the gate I saw my mother. I said “Mum” and then I told her. Just as I had done, she laughed and had to be told it three times before she could take it in. She then called the family including my father and my uncle. My father wanted to take me away from my mother. They got angry and then they decided to go to the clinic, together with my step-mother, to see for themselves whether the test results were really true. When they were told, my Dad was in shock and my Mum cried. She called my aunt and told her and said, “Make haste and come.” She was still crying when two aunties arrived at the clinic. I didn't want people looking at me, so I left and went to sit under a tree. The aunties took Mum outside, gave her a cigarette, and she cried it out and became calm. One aunt came over to me and asked if I was alright and I said I was.
MY COMMUNITY
My Dad went at once to our Don and told him about my status. The Don was shocked and upset, but he knew about HIV/AIDS and so he was very very supportive and helpful. My Dad was crying on the street corner so everyone in my community soon heard about me. Only one man in my yard was insensitive and feared that he might catch it by sharing bathroom facilities and the pipe. The Don spoke with him and that was the end of that. Our Don said I was to be treated properly and so I have had no bad experiences in my community.
The people in my community all treat me well. They always ask me how I am feeling. No one ever discriminate against me in my community. Sometimes I know that they are looking at the rashes on my skin. But they never say anything bad…..at least not to my face.
Whenever they hear me talking about HIV on the radio or see me on TV, they congratulate me and say that they are proud of me.
I really feel good about how my community is dealing with my HIV status.
JAS
I had never heard of JAS before I got tested. One day my stepmother was going through some newspapers and spotted the JAS phone number. She called and made and appointment and she and I went to the JAS office together. Nurse Wellington spoke with us in a room and then my stepmother left the room and Nurse asked me some questions and discovered that my friends, family and community treated me well. She asked me to go back to the clinic and get a prescription which JAS would fill for me, but I didn't actually do this.
Nurse told me that I could spend time at the JAS office so I started doing this. Nurse spoke to Mr. Gareth Henry about me getting involved in candle making. I started to make candles and I get a little stipend which makes me feel good about myself because I ‘m still earning money.
TEACHER JASON ------ HOW I BECAME AN EDUCATOR
Nurse Wellington realized that I could become a really good educator. Another one of my HIV positive co workers became my first mentor. The first time I went with him to hear him talk to a group of people, I was very nervous and shy. To begin with I couldn't go into the room. After a while I went into the room and caught the last half of his presentation, but I didn't participate in any way. One day I agreed to go with Mr. McKnight to a workshop. He had given me some preparation before we went and at the workshop itself, he asked the questions and I responded. Gradually my confidence began to grow. Later on, I was formally trained to give these presentations. Now a day, I often speak in public about my status and each time I do it I feel I am making a real contribution to the health and well being of other people.
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| Jason the public educator |
Jason giving support to other persons living with HIV/AIDS via the telephone |
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| Jason at work making candles |
My STORY
I was born under the clock 30 years ago and I had a good family upbringing. My mother and grandmother turned me into a decent person and I am grateful for that. I didn't get the type of education I wanted but I learned tiling from a church brother, and I was doing well.
One day I was supposed to go to the country on a tiling job. When I tried to get up in the morning and get out of the bed, I fell down. My sister with whom I was living called my Mum and she persuaded me to go to the doctor. I was admitted into the hospital for two weeks because of strokes which affected my legs. Blood tests were done but no counseling. I was given a date to get the results. When I went back, the doctor called me into his office and said, “I'm sorry but you are HIV positive”
There was no counseling. I sat for a while and the eye water came down. I left and went home. On the way home I thought about what I would say to my family and friends. I decided not to tell them as I was afraid of rejection. I didn't know about HIV---nothing. I didn't know how people would act towards me. I was 21 years old and I didn't know much about HIV. When I got home Mum asked me what the doctor had said and I said that everything was OK. I was afraid to tell her.
Looking back I realize that I went into denial. I had been a fairly quiet young man----hard working, being with my family, going to church---not really sporting and being a player. After learning the results I started going out more with friends to clubs and smoking and drinking. Mum stopped me smoking.
I broke off the relationship with my girlfriend but I didn't tell her why. I wasn't ready to talk. I saw someone I really liked but I didn't approach her. Then I met another lady and I did start a relationship with her.
Then I got sick again and my leg suddenly became swollen and I was admitted to hospital. The nurses counseled me to tell my girlfriend and my family. They were very good and very kind.
THE FAMILY'S REACTION
My family gathered round my bed and I told them. Mum cried and everyone was mournful. However, I talked positively to them and they gained some strength from this. I said I wasn't going to die and I comforted them and they said they felt better.
When I came out of hospital I couldn't do heavy rough work because of my leg. A blood clot had been cut out of it. I was home for a while and Mum looked after me. Then I met a friend who introduced me to Mr. McKnight and I got involved in candle making and then I got a job at the hospice. The hospice closed in 2000. I did some painting work and then in 2003, I came back to JAS to make Life's Work candles and I'm still doing that and also part time security at JAS.
My role as TEACHER
People at JAS soon realized that I could help other people and I started to be part of the education programme. I was trained to be a public educator, but I still felt nervous in addressing a workshop for the first time. Sometimes I still am nervous, because you never know whether people will be bitter and hostile towards people living with HIV. Sometimes they ask personal questions in a judgmental way, “You mean you STILL having sex?” or “People living with HIV should be locked up somewhere.”
However there are lots of people who are educated and sensitive and help to answer questions at workshops. In fact my own family has become very educated by me and they spread the word.
I have had to be hospitalized many times now. I have always received excellent treatment from the hospital staff. Although I hear stories about how hospital staff treat people loving with HIV, I have never experienced it personally.
The staff have treated me like a normal human being and they assist me whenever I need help. I lift my hat to the staff at The national Chest Hospital and the University Hospital.
There are many more stories like the ones you have just read. We will be updating this site on a constant basis, so do come back soon.
The Public Education and Advocacy Team, Jamaica AIDS Support.
