We are people

We are people
with AIDS

Your detailed coverage of HIV and AIDS during the current
International AIDS Conference is much appreciated. However, may I
once more plead for more care in terminology, particularly in the
headlines.

The headline of the article on page 18 of The Jakarta Post on
July 10 refers to HIV victims. In fact it was at one of the
earliest conferences on AIDS, in 1983 in Denver, U.S., that a
small band of HIV-infected activists protested the way in which
the community refused to involve people with AIDS in decision-
making and planning. They drafted a manifesto which became known
as the "Denver Principles", the preamble of which read: "We
condemn attempts to label us as 'victims', a term which implies
defeat, and we are only occasionally 'patients', a term which
implies passivity, helplessness, and dependence upon the care of
others. We are 'People with AIDS.'"

We need to continue to remind new generations of reporters and
editors of these principles, which remain valid 20 years on.

CHRIS W. GREEN

Jakarta