Phenomenal ignorance

There are only the chosen few at work who know that I'm HIV+, people who my status needs to be known to them as it's relevant to my performance and the like. People in HR, and those directly in charge of me. I also told the union FOC as well when I was going through all that crap with the (now fired) factory manager. It's certainly not something that I throw around everywhere at work. Although I'm sure many there would be very supportive and understanding, I'm also sure there'd be many not so. Sometimes it's quite astonishing the level of pure ignorance that still exists in the straight community.

Was talking with my workmate about this shocking video of a prison guard caught on camera bashing the fuck out of a prison inmate. It's been headline news here this week. An appalling display. It started when the inmate spat on the guard. The guard then opened the cell door and punched him over and over while another guard held him down (looks like they've had a bit of practice at it). Both the inmate and the guard have been charged with assault, the guard being stood down.

Unbelievably a spokesman from the Corrective Services Union defended the guard saying that being spat on by someone known to have Hep C provoked the reaction. 

So we were talking at work about it, and my workmate (who doesn't know I'm positive) said "Oh, but you know he had HIV!" 

I replied, "No it was Hep C, I saw it on the news. And you can't get Hep C by being spat on. As a matter of fact you can't get HIV either"

Sort of stunned silence, him looking at me like How does he know that? ... 

I thought it was pretty funny that he'd think that you could get HIV from spit. Mentioned it to the union guy (who knows my status) and he thought it funny also. I was saying it's fuckin unbelievable the level of ignorance around. He reckoned especially with older people. I'd never considered that. He came over later and and said "It's no wonder people keep things to themselves". It's that level of ignorance that fuels stigma and discrimination.

I haven't seen any stories about the incident mentioning that the inmate was HIV+, but the other workmate was adamant that the guard was now getting tested for HIV and won't know in 3 months. What a fuckin waste of resources and time. I told him that the only way that he might possibly have got it, was if the inmate spat blood at him and it landed on an open cut. That in fact if the guard was concerned about getting HIV or Hep C, he should know that there's no risk of getting it from spit. And that by going and bashing the guy repeatedly with bare fists is infinitely more risky than being spat on. Just a small cut on his knuckles in contact with blood from the guys face, sounds like a pretty effective way to get HIV to me. Ironically, if he does test positive after 3 months to either HIV or Hep C, it will be his own bloody fault. Literally. 

It seems to me that for many people in the community, their HIV education stopped with this add from 25 years ago. Way back when an HIV diagnosis was a death sentence.

 

I'm happy to tell the relevant people at work, but if my status went through the whole place I'd just leave. There's laws against discrimination, but it doesn't stop the stigma and attitude of some people.