Orville W. Taylor IN THE past week or so there was International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Disabilities Awareness Week and International AIDS Day. Well, I am unimpressed. It is not enough to dedicate a mere 24 or 168 hours to these three concerns. They should be part of our everyday sensitivities and not relegated to some ceremonial acknowledgement to soothe our troubled consciences.
Our attitudes towards persons who are 'different' and cannot change their statuses (not simply who do things differently) is often "Arrogant Insensitive Discriminatory and Stupid (AIDS)." Most disabilities are not contagious. Staring in a blind person's eyes won't make you lose your sight. If you feel so, you lack vision! Being deaf and mute does not equate to 'dumbness.' Actually, my hearing-impaired readers are fortunate not to hear some of the nonsense on the airwaves daily. Check this! Having the use of only half of one's limbs does not make one half a man. The most brilliant physicist since Einstein is a quadriplegic. Yes, Stephen Hawkins is brighter than a million 'peenie wally'.
CONSTANT PROBLEMS
Constant problems which persons with disabilities face include lack of proper access and insensitivity to their special needs. Despite official attempts such as the National Housing Trust (NHT) reserving a percentage of its units for them, buildings are still constructed without ramps and alternate warnings such as Braille notices. For this group the rate of unemployment, among those who are capable of working, is more than three times the national average. It is necessary to see them as 'persons with disabilities' rather than 'disabled.' How often is this group represented in national dialogues such as the Labour Advisory Committee?
AIDS/HIV has become another threshold of disability. Unlike other types, this disability is social because the label of HIV-positive excludes persons from performing in the labour market as their 'normal' counterparts. The pandemic is particularly worrisome because it can have a devastating effect on our labour force and development. Yet, we have not quite adjusted ourselves to deal with it. Despite the high level of knowledge regarding the disease it has not translated into wholesale behavioural change. With Jamaica's infection rate second only to sub-Saharan Africa the chances of contracting it via unprotected sex is close to one in 10. Perhaps some persons feel that these are good odds. Still, they believe that they can actually win the lotto or any of those other numbers games even though those odds are astronomical. By the way it is also unprotected sex when you 'rest it' orally. (Sorry, I am getting 'ahead' of myself).
Of course, some religious zealots invoke the punishment of God. However, there are other ways of getting it. Given the case of the youth that contracted AIDS via blood transfusions from the public supply, I am willing to bet that many more have been infected by that route. One particular denomination is against transfusions. Nonetheless, until they build even one school to help educate the population "dem can't talk to mi". Now is not the time for moralising. It is here, let us deal with it.
AIDS is becoming a gendered crisis and if improperly managed it becomes another form of disability. Between 1998 and 2003 the percentage of women among adults living with HIV grew from 43 to 48 per cent. Today, in sub-Saharan Africa they comprise 57 per cent. Globally, young females constitute 60 per cent of all new cases. In the Caribbean, twice as many are infected as their male counterparts. In some parts of southern Africa the ratio is as much as six times. So we know that it is not a gay man's disease. Theirs is 'anti-free-speech-itis'.
Research shows that the rate of infection among women is related to their subordinate status and sexual discrimination. Among unempowered women the disease is spreading most as they are pressured into unsafe practices because 'dem can't do betta'. In developing countries we have pussyfooted around the gender issue and haven't decided if women are equal to men or their dependents. You can't have both! As long as women feel that men must be "ministers of mining" then they will not be in the position to defend their lives. Subordinate women are easy victims of spousal violence and HIV-positive women are doubly discriminated against. By the way, when did the euphemism for intercourse become violent? I recall innocuous expressions such as 'cut the sugar', and can understand 'slap', but how do you justify "A 'im a kill dat yu no?"
ILLEGAL AND UNJUSTIFIED
Nonetheless, it is illegal and unjustified to discriminate against a worker due to his/her HIV status. Under the various conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which developed the concept of basic human rights in 1919, that was later adopted by the UN in 1944, any able-bodied worker who is terminated due to HIV status is unjustifiably dismissed. In CARICOM only the Bahamas has enacted legislation to prevent discrimination at work based on HIV status. Notwithstanding this, even without statutes there is legal precedent such as the 2000 case of Hoffmann v. South African Airways and the 1993 Canada (Attorney General) v. Thwaites. "Now the public knows, don't."
Let us practice sensitivity to others on a regular basis and treat them as we would want to be treated. It is not enough to turn up at a conference or funeral and cry crocodile tears. Show that you care every day and never be too self-involved or too busy to be human.
Well, the elections for the new executive of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) are over. When will they drop the amateur from the title? Mr. Aris (there is no 'H' in the surname), don't follow Mr. Boxhill (Jamaicans don't pronounce 'H' so don't confuse him with the sociologist). "Du Sah" no imported foreign coaches!
Orville Taylor, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work.
