Comments on: Learning the hard way http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/02/17/learning-the-hard-way/ the gay community's news source Thu, 23 May 2013 20:58:02 +0000 hourly 1 By: David Phillips http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/02/17/learning-the-hard-way/#comment-17148 David Phillips Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:15:39 +0000 http://www.washingtonblade.com/?p=17826#comment-17148 Here the writer and the Blade do a great disservice to readers and people living with HIV by propagating the tortured “HIV/AIDS” formation, then conflating “HIV” with “AIDS” throughout the article through improper substitution. This writing behavior may have become comfortable and widespread over the last 15 to 20 years, but to this survivor of over 28 years with HIV without any AIDS-defining conditions, it is inaccurate and harmful.

Specifically, the use of “HIV/AIDS” acts counter to the positioning of HIV as a chronic manageable disease constrained from progressing to AIDS-defining illnesses which, along with medications to manage HIV, has been essential in allowing people living with HIV to foresee and build long and productive lives in spite of the virus. This measure of hope, in turn, is critical for getting persons at-risk for HIV infection to get tested and to start treatment. By even suggesting that HIV=AIDS, the Blade may be fanning the embers of fear within many people that keep them from getting tested for HIV until either they have infected someone they love, or they present with components of advanced HIV disease (AIDS).

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