Chanda's Secret- Stigma

Ever since the first cases of what eventually came to be known as AIDS were diagnosed in the early 1980s, people with HIV/AIDS have been stigmatized. Over time, there have been many misconceptions about this disease. Even though there have been many discoveries, and treatments for HIV have improved over time, there are still many people who understand very little about this disease. This lack of understanding, along with fear, misinformation about how the disease is transmitted, and “moral” judgments made about the types of people who contract HIV, all have led to stigmatization of, and discrimination against, people who are living with HIV/AIDS. Understanding the stigmatization of people with HIV/AIDS is an important social justice issue because that stigmatization can result in people with HIV being insulted, rejected, gossiped about, excluded from family and social activities, fired, and even jailed. People with HIV are no different from people suffering from other chronic diseases. Instead of being alienated, they have a right to be treated with fairness, respect, and dignity.

Thirty years ago, many believed that only gay people contracted the HIV virus, however, such speculation was disregarded once millions of people were infected. Humans were afraid to be infected, thus they stereotyped those who were infected in order to protect themselves, but the reality is that no one was safe from the HIV virus. Mary Fisher was one of few individuals that accepted the cruelty of the virus, but only by accepting what HIV is, she was able to challenge the virus. In order to awaken the society about the reality of AIDS, Mary Fisher’s speech, “A Whisper of AIDS” would send a message of challenge towards the virus and unite the humans to fight against AIDS. By balancing three different persuasive appeals; ethos, logos, and

Anyone who enters cannot leave the cell and therefore once an individual is infected, then, death is the only next probable thing. This painting attracted views from all persons and groups in our society after they realized that handling and addressing the AIDS epidemic is a collective responsibility. Discussions of disease, death, race, sex, drug addiction and homosexuality which are shunned by polite individuals became common topics (Mahoney, n.p.). Gatewood created a scenario where everyone had to acknowledge that the AIDS epidemic was now a threat that needed to be addressed immediately. Humanity ought to give the AIDS epidemic the weight it deserves by advocating everyone to play their role in this collective responsibility of reducing infections and deaths caused by the spread of HIV. Gatewood wanted humanity to realize the price they have to pay for their prudishness and ignorance of AIDS as a killer

In Chanda’s Secrets, the book is about a teenage girl, Chanda, who is living in Bonang, where there is a lot of shame because of AIDS. She and her family have faced many rough challenges in the book because of AIDS just to save the people she loves. This book also shows the enduring strength of loyalty, the profound impact of loss, and a fearlessness that is powered by the heart. The level of shame is less in the end than in the beginning because, in the beginning, people had to tell lies about one’s death because they are afraid of being ashamed, throughout the book, people started to ignore the shame, and in the end, people are not ashamed anymore.

When a fatal disease becomes known to a society but lacks explanation our instinct as humans is to jump to conclusions, whether they are logical or not. We bargain with our faith, we search for any evidence to support our conjectures, we deny the truth of the disease, and we place blame on each other. All of these desperate acts of justification are driven by fear—fear of the unknown. The combination of fear and ignorance that pushes people to make conclusions is readily notable in the AIDS epidemic of Haiti. Haitians reacted to AIDS in a similar manner as other cultures, but there are also differences that are specific to their community. Like many cultures, Haitians reasoned the occurrence of AIDS with explanations beyond the scope of medicine, with diseases that were known to them, or were instead in complete denial. The uniqueness of the occurrence of AIDS in Haiti was that there was no direct cause that could be addressed. Thus, while under significant scrutiny as the origin of AIDS, Haitians reacted to the epidemic by blaming the existence of AIDS on poor socioeconomic status, on sorcery, and on other people or countries.

The connotation of “killed” has a double effect. First, its negative connotation creates an image in one’s head of a mob of people destroying one another. It represents how severe the aftermath of the virus has been. The second effect, one that is deeper, and somewhat hidden, is that the word “killed” implies the killing of open-mindedness and selflessness. It shows how people hurt each other, knock each other down, and even kill each other for their own selfish desires. In this case, society has ignored the AIDS virus because they have the thought that “If I don’t have it, I shouldn’t care about it”. This kind of thinking has lay ruin for the victims of this virus, who have been hurt even more due to the ignorance of society towards such a major problem.

Death and disease are common in today’s world. A person dies every day and for disease everyone gets some kind of disease. But today not everyone panics at death and disease but back in the 1700s people weren’t really familiar with death and disease. In Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson, the author gives details about the effects of death and disease and how it changes people for better or for worse. In the story, a young girl named Matilda is your typical girl who doesn’t want to work, but when the yellow fever strikes Philadelphia, Matilda changes throughout the story. This story suggests that when death and disease happen people can change for better or for worse.

In the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” FRONTLINE examines the outbreak of AIDS since its first diagnosed case in 1981. The film investigates different medical, political and social environments under AIDS pandemic in the US and worldwide. The film not only focuses on the scientific research and progress in treating the disease, it also looks at the social stigma, government strategies and public campaigns around different countries.

Dennis P. Kimbo once said, “Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” Despite the numerous obstacles of life, people can choose how they react. Today, many people are faced with the obstacle of life threatening diseases. By some diseases being incurable, the cloud of only having so much longer to live hangs over them. As a result, some may choose the option of euthanasia if it is available. In the contrasting pieces of writing, Kara Tippetts use of ethos about euthanasia is more convincing than Brittany Maynard use of logos.

For many patients with incurable illnesses around the world, the time to stop particular treatments is an ongoing argument. Atul Gawande, a surgeon and staff writer for The New York Times, has been following this debate since his medical practice and strives to inform the public on how to handle mortality. In his article, The Best Possible Day, Gawande employs an anecdote, Ethos, and a eulogy to encourage the audience to consider adjusting a sick person’s care according to how they feel.

When the AIDS and HIV virus crept its way into the human-race, it quickly, and without warning, claimed the lives of millions. Then when its destructive wake had finally been abated, it left behind several untold mysteries. Throughout the course of this class, all the new material we have been exposed to has added some unique piece to the puzzle of the AIDS epidemic. Each puzzle pieces have ranged from speculations on how the AIDS epidemic had begun, to what exactly has the epidemic done. We have also tackled the question and how it forced a change in society. Our newest piece of the puzzle is the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” by William Cran. Although this documentary did not surprise me in its content, it did, however, affirm certain types

Physician-assisted death can be seen as a desirable way to end one’s painful agony, where the person knows that they are inevitably going to die, but they are currently suffering, awaiting eminent death. Studies show that among the patients that have ended their life through this process, the majority of them have been diagnosed with AIDS or other incurable diseases, causing them to lose all hope in life. This portrays the person’s resignation and their end to strive to continue living under such unbearable circumstances.

The results from this study formed three themes which included anticipatory fear for suffering of others, feeling unconnected or connected, and learning from others. (Schellenkens & Jansen, 2015, pg. 1815-1818). What was discovered was that the participants went through a stage where they feared facing other clients dealing with the same disease before the study began. Throughout the study, the participants felt more connected with and supported by other which resulted in learning from each other

A terminal illness can generally be defined as an illness for which there is no cure and the prognosis is fatal. We all know that we will die someday but most of us think of this as some distant time. For individuals who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, though, they must face the reality of their own mortality and are forced to re-evaluate their lives and must make choices about how to best spend the remainder of their days. For the purposes of this paper I am focusing on the cultural differences between how American society copes with a terminal illness and how Jewish American’s cope. Coping with a terminal illness is not unique to any particular culture. How an individual reacts and prepares for their own inevitable

It is surely agreed by all parties that disease’s very existence is condemned and despised. Disease burdens pain and uncomfortability upon its victims. Some people can even experience an unfortunate and early death, when illnesses comes knocking on their doorsteps. Why are we allowing evil illnesses to take the lives of innocent people; something needs to be done.