Hey everyone,
Oh, I'm sooooooo glad that we don't have anything due for this week, its just great to have one less thing to worry about! I'm pretty sure everyone agrees with me, right? :D
So, I've spent this week trying to get my computer to work, I was worried about missing the QOTW and the blog post for this week, but I got it to work so, fhewwwww....
Okay, now let's talk about our class. This week's question of the week was so complicated and so hard to answer. I have no idea what I will actually do if I was put in that situation. It's so tough. Even if I'm the one in need of the kidney, I don't think I would want that kidney even if I was dying in three days!!!! It really got me thinking about what I will actually do if I am faced with that situation, and if or not I would donate my kidney to my sister. Now, for those of you who read my old posts, you'd rememeber me telling you about my sister refusing to help the "bleeding lady" on the road because she is scared of contracting the disease; can you just imagine how she would react if she found out that she needed an HIV+ person's kidney???!!! Oh God, I can only imagine! But again, it's a really tough situation and tougher decision. I pray to God so hard not to put me in that kind of situation, I really do.
I just checked the responses I got to my answer, and Oh God, everyone's upset about it. I don't know, but I just don't think that giving my infected kidney or recieving one is that easy to decide. Don't get me wrong, we all learned alot of stuff in this course, but still.. The way you learn to deal with the issue, and how you ACTUALLY deal with it are two different things. I am not ignorant about the disease, but I still feel that it's just so hard. We always talk so much about prevention and protection, but when you say you're willing to get an infected organ, it's like BOOOOOOOM, what have we been talking about?????? Oh well, no hard feelings fellow bloggers :P
DID YOU KNOW?
I've been talking so much about HIV/AIDS stigma in general, but today I've decided to research stigma in U.S preisons, and see how the issue is dealt with.
According to the article "AIDS stigma among inmates and staff in a USA state prison", AIDS stigma among prison inmates and staff rises due to negative attitudes toward the disease and its transmission, and also, because of negative attitudes toward homosexuality. In the same aritcle, inmates and staff said that stigma in prison became a barrier for testing; everyone is scared to be treated differently if they test positive. However, this is not the case among African American inmates and staff, who appear to lack that negative way of thinking about the disease! I wonder why, maybe because they've been hit with the disease badly, which made them learn about it and improved their attitudes toward the issue!
Reference: Derlega, V. Winstead, B. & Brockington, J. (2008). AIDS stigma among inmates and staff in a USA state prison. Retrieved October, 21, 2009, from http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=20332675
