It has been two years since the government passed a bill giving legal sanctity to people living with HIV/AIDS. Referred to as the HIV/AIDS Bill 2017, it was aimed at ending discrimination against people living with HIV and removing social stigma attached to this disease.
India has 2.1 million people with HIV/AIDS. Attitudes against the infected people still border on fatalism and ignorance, even among the educated, urban communities. Although the law empowers people living with HIV to challenge discrimination in workforce, schools, and homes, the affected people are vulnerable in the larger social landscape. People do not want to do anything or even deal with those living with HIV/AIDS. It becomes even more tragic for the orphaned children of people who had died of AIDS. Discrimination is silent, rampant, and discreet; and violations often go unreported or unchallenged.
India is the first country in South Asia to enact this anti-discriminatory law, but inclusion is still a far-fetched dream for many living with HIV/AIDS. Fear and stigma attached to HIV deter families and communities from caring for affected people, and it is difficult for people living with HIV/AIDS to receive the care and support they need. Enacting the anti-discrimination law is one thing, and ensuring an inclusive society is another. To build an inclusive society, we need an antidote for an even more nefarious disease: Ignorance.
Removing ignorance begins with education. But that is just one aspect of the solution; what happened to our innate nature of goodwill and kindness? Even a small act of kindness can make a world of difference… for instance, when a child living with AIDS finds a new friend. Remember that every child or person living with AIDS have hopes and dreams too. Let us sit with our children and talk about how kindness and hope are not exclusive to us, about how we can share it with others, and about we can grow to be an inclusive society that is enlightened, generous, and kind.
