Film Essay

AIDS in the Workplace

At work, colleagues talk about family, pets or the latest movie that came out, what is not talked about is AIDS. AIDS is something that is not normally brought up in a conversation, especially amongst coworkers. If a fun conversation turned into one about AIDS there would be many uncomfortable people that would potentially walk away from the conversation altogether. However, if someone who is diagnosed with cancer begins to talk about their strugglers everyone is there to lend a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. AIDS should not be any different. Like cancer, AIDS does not have a cure. Coworkers battling AIDS need an excessive support system. Colleagues should not be shunned or frowned upon due to the fact that they have been plagued with this dreadful disease. Employers and coworkers need to start showing support and acceptance of their peers who are facing AIDS.

The 1993 film Philadelphia, shows an example of AIDS creating a problem in a working environment. Lawyers Andrew Beckett and Joe Miller utilize their legal skills when Andrew Beckett feels he has been fired when his boss notices a lesion caused by AIDS on his face. It is illegal for an employer to fire an employee due to a sickness or disability, because the company Andrew Beckett is working for, knows this, the company fires him for an error in his job performance. Due to the false accusation, Andrew is determined to sue his former employer for wrongful termination, in hopes to bring justice to himself and to others who have been in this situation.  Although in the film Andrew is a homosexual, AIDS does not have a prejudice as to who can contract the disease. “Anyone can get HIV -men, women, and children, people who are gay or straight” (“AIDS United”). Contracting AIDS is not something everyone can contract, AIDS is contracted by the actions someone chooses to do. Sexual encounters, sharing needles, or blood transfusions with someone who is HIV positive will lead to contracting AIDS. Talking to, or shaking hands with a coworker who is HIV positive will not lead to contracting AIDS.

            The discrimination law became affective in 1973 and states: “The Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination against otherwise qualified handicapped persons who are able to perform the duties required by their employment” (Philadelphia).When the Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Act first passed there were many people that were unsure whether AIDS was in fact protected by the act. However, later decisions have held that AIDS is protected as a handicap under law, not only because of the physical limitations it imposes, but because the prejudice surrounding AIDS (Philadelphia). When someone is affected with AIDS, it is not something that is easily hidden or in Andrew Beckett’s case, can be hidden at all. AIDS causes your immune system to become extremely weak, which causes you to become sick more often and for longer periods of time. “Areas of abnormal or damaged tissue, called lesions, are a common symptom of AIDS. The most visible types of AIDS lesions are on the skin, but they can also appear in internal organs such as the brain and kidneys” (“The AIDS Epidemic”). AIDS does enough damage to one’s body; inside and out, that last thing someone who is diagnosed with AIDS needs is to feel rejected at their place of employment.

  AIDS is not a fun topic to talk about, but, it is imperative that people do talk about AIDS. A colleague from work may be struggling with this disease and they should not have to struggle with it alone. The United States Department of Labor has been providing companies with support groups and classes for employees to take on how to live with AIDS and on how to interact with people who are living with the disease. “HIV/AIDS projects attempt to break through the fear, social stigmatization and workplace discrimination workers commonly experience” (ILAB). AIDS is dreadful disease that is in the world and if we choose not to be different and show support and acceptance towards coworkers living with AIDS then there will always be discrimination towards those living with AIDS.  Philadelphia shows Andrew’s courage in his fight with AIDS. Even though at the end of the film AIDS takes Andrews life, he achieves justice when the jury awards him back pay and punitive damages totaling more than 5 million dollars.

Works Cited

"AIDS United." AIDS United. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://www.aidsunited.org>.

"ILAB - Technical Assistance - HIV/AIDS Workplace Education." United States Department of Labor. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://www.dol.gov/ilab/programs/intlcoop/hivaids/>.

Philadelphia. Dir. Jonathan  Demme. Perf. Tom Hanks Denzel Washinton. TriStar Pictures, 1993. DVD.

"The AIDS Epidemic and Sociological Enquiry." American Sociological Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://www.asanet.org/footnotes/apr01/fn18.html>.

Global Essay

College of Western Idaho

 

  

Combating AIDS Around the World

 

 

 

 

Veronica Keith

0100743

English 0W11

Leslie Jewkes

May 2, 2013

 

ABSTRACT

In the United States everyone knows about how terrible of a disease Cancer is. While it is truly terrible, there is another terrible disease that is seeking our help also. AIDS, like cancer does not have a known cure. There are so many people that do not know how AIDS is contracted or what to expect if one contract AIDS. Thankfully here in the U.S we have hospitals and doctors available to us if we need them. Third world countries do not have that luxury. People living in third world countries who have AIDS are suffering from pain and sickness and most may not even be aware as to what causes their pain. Helping bring knowledge and medical care to third world countries is a huge step in winning the fight against AIDS.

 

 

 

Combating AIDS Around the World

            Totaling more than 33%, the country of Swaziland has the largest number of people living with AIDS around the world (Copson).While, that number is less than half of the population of Swaziland, it is still an outrageous percentage of their population. Researchers and scientists believe that AIDS has potentially been around for 32,000 years, believing that chimpanzees were the first primates to contract the disease, and then later spreading AIDS to humans. The first know record of AIDS was in the early 1980’s. During this time if someone was known to have AIDS they would be banned from, churches, schools and other public activities (UNAIDS). Thankfully, we are more accepting of diseases today. Some often feel, if they give to a research fund, they too are fighting the battle against AIDS. Yes, while the monetary contribution helps, the money mostly goes towards those living with AIDS in America. In the U.S we do not often hear about AIDS in the news or a marathon in honor of AIDS awareness. AIDS is not the leading cause of death in America, thus some feel there is no need to talk about AIDS often. America is known for helping other countries in need, however, every 12 seconds in a third world country someone has contracted AIDS, and every 16 seconds AIDS takes someone’s life (UNAIDS). There is so much that American can be doing. We must start fighting for, those who cannot do it for themselves. We need to help third world counties in their fight against AIDS.

            While AIDS is usually the last thought in our minds, AIDS continues to spread rapidly in third world countries. “Africa has the worst problems, with an estimated 22.5 million individuals living with AIDS (by contrast, North America has 890,000 cases). The South and Southeastern Asia region has 6.7 million sufferers” (HIV & AIDS). The graph below shows how much the global number of people living with HIV increase each year.

(NationMaster)

The number one cause of the spread of AIDS in these countries is sexual intercourse. The spread of AIDS appears to be just like a life cycle. Two HIV positive adults have sexual intercourse, if a pregnancy occurs, the baby will be born HIV positive. Assuming the baby lives to be an adult, then meets someone who is not HIV positive and has sexual intercourse, has now spread the disease to another person. This is a cycle that can and must be stopped.

             “Education will play a vital role in decreasing the number of AIDS cases in third world countries. Enrollment of children in schools is very important because school is the primary institution to give the message about AIDS to children. It is important to being  sex education when children are young. Children should be educated about how to prevent getting infected with HIV and how they can utilize the services available if they do contract AIDS” (Espada).

 

Most of the people living in third world countries have had little to no schooling and what little schooling they had, probably is not going to be about AIDS prevention. “Most AIDS infections in African children could have been prevented if necessary initiatives would have been taken” (Zukoski). Those necessary initiatives would be education and proper medical care. New drug treatments have been discovered to possibly help with slowing down the spread of AIDS. These treatments are very expensive and are currently only being offered to those in countries that can afford it and have the education system to educate people about the drug. If the drug is only offered to those who already have a good medical system then the spread of AIDS will continue to grow.

            There are many ways to help third world countries in their battle with AIDS. Doctors without borders is an organization in which medical doctors go to third world countries and provide medical help for those suffering with diseases and illnesses (Doctors). While not all of us are doctors, what we can do is support organizations like this one and others by giving monetary gifts specifically for AIDS research and treatments in third world countries. Those who do not know a lot about AIDS but may know how to speak a few different languages are a tremendous help as well. Being able to translate knowledge and information to others in their native language will help education them and others about what AIDS is and how it is spread and ways to stop the spread of this incurable disease. We need to help third world and poverty stricken countries prevent the spread of AIDS and to gain knowledge about this disease because “education is the movement from darkness to light” (Bell).

           

Works Cited

Bell, Sigall K., Kevin Selby, and Courtney L. McMickens. AIDS. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood, 2011. Print.

Copson, Raymond W.. AIDS in Africa. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2000. Print.

"Doctors Without Borders." Doctors Without Borders. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2013. <http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/>.

Espada, J. P., Orgilés, M., Morales, A., Ballester, R., & Huedo-Medina, T. B. (2012). Effectiveness of a School HIV/AIDS Prevention Program for Spanish Adolescents. AIDS Education & Prevention, 24(6), 500-513. doi:10.1521/aeap.2012.24.6.500

"HIV & AIDS Information from AVERT.org." HIV & AIDS Information from AVERT.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2013. <http://www.avert.org>.

"NationMaster - World Statistics, Country Comparisons." NationMaster - World Statistics, Country Comparisons. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2013. <http://www.nationmaster.com>.

"UNAIDS." UNAIDS. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2013. <http://www.unaids.org>.

Zukoski, A. P., Thorburn, S., & Stroud, J. (2011). Seeking information about HIV/AIDS: a qualitative study of health literacy among people living with HIV/AIDS in a low prevalence context. AIDS Care, 23(11), 1505-1508. doi:10.1080/09540121.2011.582077

Final Reflection

I have started to notice that the majority of my Math and Science professors struggled with proper grammar and punctuation. Being a Biology major, I did not want that for myself. I always enjoyed English and writing papers, so I was determined to be a great writer. Last semester I took English 101 and I passed with a high “A”.  I knew English 102 was my last English class I ever had to take and I could not wait to receive an “A” and get the class over with. I assumed that English 102 would be just as simple as 101, boy, was I wrong. This class challenged me in so many ways. Fun challenges and challenges that made me want to pull out my hair.

            Research papers are not my favorite and when I found out that all of the essays I had to write were about a specific research topic, I was a little less than thrilled. My chosen topic was AIDS. The only thing I knew about AIDS was that I never wanted to “get” it. Having to do hours and hours of research on AIDS was actually something I quite enjoyed. I learned how to properly make a works cited page, and to also look for credible sources. Until English 102 I never used a scholarly article, but I have to admit that the articles are now my favorite sources. When I wrote my first paper, I had my works cited page all wrong, I had no idea that my references had to be in alphabetical order. That was an easy fix. One of my bigger challenges was using first and third person a lot in my papers. I would say things such as “you could contract AIDS from…” when it should have probably been stated such as “one might contract AIDS from…” This was not as easy of a fix as my work cited page. I usually had to type out the incorrect way, then delete the sentence and think of something more professional sounding which would qualify for an “A” paper. My biggest and most fun challenge was not being able to use contractions. On the list of “Do Not’s” the class received it seemed that all the words and phrases I previously used in my writings were all listed on there. Before submitting a final copy of a paper I would find myself rereading my paper over and over to make sure I had all the “don’t” into “do not’s.” While it was difficult to not use contractions, it does make the paper sound more professional and I hardly ever use contractions anymore.

            Even though I do not plan on being the next William Shakespeare, I’m happy that I have taken numerous English classes. English 102 was the right amount of challenging and fun. I love everything I have learned and I do not have to worry about being one of those people that either knows Math or English.

Polished Bibliography

Polished Bibliography

"AIDS in Idaho." AIDS in Idaho. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. <http://Healthandwelfare.idaho.gov>. 

"AIDS United." AIDS United. N.p., 8 May 2012. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. <http://www.aidsunited.org>. 

"Allies Linked for the Prevention of HIV and AIDS ." Allies Linked for the Prevention of HIV and AIDS . N.p., 22 Dec. 2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. <http://www.alphaidaho.org>. 

"Basic Statistics | Statistics and Surveillance | Topics | CDC HIV/AIDS." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.htm>.

Bell, Sigall K., Kevin Selby, and Courtney L. McMickens. AIDS. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Greenwood, 2011. Print.

"Combating the AIDS Epidemic" Inpharma Weekly. (2001): 3. Print.

"Combating the Spread of Aids." Nursing Standard (royal College of Nursing (great Britain) : 1987). 5.49 (1991): 28. Print.

Copson, Raymond W.. AIDS in Africa. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2000. Print.

"Doctors Without Borders." Doctors Without Borders. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2013. <http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/>.

Effectiveness of a School HIV/AIDS Prevention Program for Spanish Adolescents. AIDS Education & Prevention, 24(6), 500-513. doi:10.1521/aeap.2012.24.6.500

Espada, J. P., Orgilés, M., Morales, A., Ballester, R., & Huedo-Medina, T. B. (2012).

"HIV & AIDS Information from AVERT.org." HIV & AIDS Information from AVERT.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2013. <http://www.avert.org>.

"ILAB - Technical Assistance - HIV/AIDS Workplace Education." United States Department of Labor. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://www.dol.gov/ilab/programs/intlcoop/hivaids/>.

Iverson, Donald C, and W J. Popham. "Combating Aids on the Front Lines." School Administrator. 49.8 (1992): 22. Print.

Keith, William. Phone interview. 22 Feb. 2013.

"NationMaster - World Statistics, Country Comparisons." NationMaster - World Statistics, Country Comparisons. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2013. <http://www.nationmaster.com>.

"The AIDS Epidemic and Sociological Enquiry." American Sociological Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. <http://www.asanet.org/footnotes/apr01/fn18.html>.

Philadelphia. Dir. Jonathan  Demme. Perf. Tom Hanks Denzel Washinton. TriStar Pictures, 1993. DVD.

Slater, M. "Combating Aids: Communication Strategies in Action." Journal of Health Communication. 9 (2004): 85-87. Print.

"UNAIDS." UNAIDS. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 May 2013. <http://www.unaids.org>.

Zukoski, A. P., Thorburn, S., & Stroud, J. (2011). Seeking information about HIV/AIDS: a qualitative study of health literacy among people living with HIV/AIDS in a low prevalence context. AIDS Care, 23(11), 1505-1508. doi:10.1080/09540121.2011.582077