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Disability and HIV/AIDS

Pushing frontiers: Including the disabled in service provision

People with disabilities (PWDs) are often excluded from HIV and AIDS education and care initiatives, partly due to the widespread perception that they are asexual. In reality they are just as sexually active as their non-disabled peers. At the same time, however, they are also often at much higher risk of sexual abuse from caregivers, partners and strangers who may see them as defenceless. Even where such abuse is reported, law enforcement officers and others in positions of authority tend to take it lightly.

Read the full article in Exchange Magazine's Disability Issue.

Disability and HIV/AIDS: The first major international dialogue

“Disabled people can have the same range of sexuality experiences that all people do – desire, fantasies, pain, pleasure, boredom, frustration, love. But they are denied information on sexuality and access to sexual health services because they are seen as asexual, oversexed, or sexually vulnerable. This lack of access hinders pleasurable sexual experiences and can create vulnerability to abuse and disease.” - Caroline Earle, CREA

Beyond Barriers: Disability and AIDS

Myroslava Tataryn, AIDS-Free World's Advisor on Disability and HIV/AIDS, presented at the 'Beyond Barriers: Disability and AIDS' session at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. Read her presentation here.
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THE AGENDA
AIDS-Free World takes on the most critical issues affecting populations from Africa to the Caribbean, Asia and beyond. The Agenda items listed so far offer a sampling of topics we will probe in this section.
THE DEBATES
Every approach to HIV/AIDS has pros and cons, but most are thrashed out behind closed doors. In The Debates, introduced here with a few initial topics, we’ll move those discussions into the public domain.
- A UN agency for women
- Questioning the statistics

TAKE NOTE
Check this section for important AIDS news and developments, good and bad.
VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB
Read our recommendations for the latest books on HIV/AIDS:

Video

Double Discrimination: A Town Hall Meeting organized by AIDS-Free World and Disabled Peoples’ International

HIV and disability are linked, but the world has been slow to acknowledge this. The connection took center stage for the first time at a significant global level in a historic event in Mexico City. Many of the 650 million disabled people in the world are more vulnerable to HIV than the general population, yet they are excluded from most HIV services.

This session brought AIDS and disability rights activists together at the XVII International AIDS conference for a fascinating town hall-style conversation, moderated by TV personality Avi Lewis. Activists, scholars and audience members held a lively discussion about barriers to prevention, treatment and care, particularly for disabled women; historic neglect at all levels; and innovative efforts now under way to address the issues.

We are proud to present Double Discrimination, closed captioned for the hearing impaired. Watch Part 1 of Double Discrimination: Disability and AIDS above; for Parts 2 through 5 click here.