Shopkeeper refuses to sell to HIV-infected person (Observer Letter)

Dear Eve,

I have seen the ads with Rosie Stone and Jason Richards trying to inform and explain to the public that support for people living with HIV is a good thing and that it is OK to eat and socialise with infected persons without harm to yourself. I was therefore shocked to hear that in a rural community in St James a shopkeeper refused to sell goods to someone who is infected. My question is, do you think the ads will help with this kind of behaviour?

I am,

Shocked from the West.

Dear Shocked from the West,

As someone who is infected with the virus and also involved in a public way in trying to do my part in helping others to lessen the stigma against those who are infected or affected by HIV I am not as shocked as you are. At public forums I am still asked: 'people really eat after you cook, Mrs Stone?'

I know there is still a lot of work to be done in this area as people get and accept the facts as they relate to HIV. Having knowledge does not always translate into behavioural change, but we still have to work towards the goal of change. As recently as last month, a friend of my sister had a piece of cake that I had baked and offered it to her co-worker. He refused because he knew that an HIV-positive person had baked it. Some of these fears that result in HIV stigmatising behaviour are probably rooted in our culture and we might not understand it as well as some sociologists who have done research in this area.

I also believe that quite a few people in their daily lives stigmatise others that are different from themselves. Sometimes we have to dehumanise others, make them feel less than human so that we can feel good about ourselves.

A couple of years ago, I was sharing portions of my book, No Stone Unturned, with some members of a church. A male member's question to me was, 'Mrs Stone, I am afraid of you, I'm really afraid of you, can you tell me why I should not be afraid of you?' He was expressing his personal fears of being associated with persons who are infected with the virus. I said then, and it is still true today, there is nothing to fear from socialising with me, from being in my company, from hugging me, from eating from me and, by extension, any other infected person.

The truth is that when it comes to HIV, people have more to fear from the persons that are their partners, persons who they have sexual relationships with than infected persons who are just trying to survive in a stigmatised environment.

One of the problems of stigmatising behaviour is that it can lead to discrimination; and the act of discrimination is against the law. What the shopkeeper did could probably be seen as unjust and unfair, which are all aspects of discrimination. But, he did not break the law.

Ainsley Reid, who was a part of the first anti-stigma media campaign using HIV-positive persons, tells me that the Jamaican and Caribbean environments have changed for the better. In the late '80s and early '90s stigmatising behaviours were everywhere, not clothed or closeted but exposed for everyone to see and experience, especially the community of persons that were infected.

If we believe that this is a reasonable assumption to come to, then we have to expect that there will be pockets of enacted stigma coupled with more sophisticated and subtle forms appearing in the Jamaican and Caribbean environments.

I believe that media campaigns do help the anti-stigma cause. It at least begins the conversation in households across the island. There are also several off-shoots from a campaign such as this that are not immediately apparent. And from where I sit, a very important one is that persons who are infected in Jamaica have four faces that they can relate to -- Ainsley, Annesha, Jason and Rosie. We have been where they are and we can offer a listening ear and some kind of informed empathy that only a person who is infected with HIV can do.

Yours sincerely,

Rosie Stone

Rosemarie Stone has been living with HIV for more than 15 years. You can send her your questions relating to HIV and AIDS issues to info@eveforlife.org or write to Dear Eve, C/O Jamaica Observer, 40 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5.