Crossing the threshold of fear.

This interview was conducted with a 31-year-old US man from California who has AIDS. He was 1st diagnosed in 1982. 4 years later after a failed suicide attempt and a subsequent period of depression and withdrawal he began a new career as an AIDS educator. His work has taken him across the US where he is a member of the US National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) to Africa as a consultant to the Norwegian Red Cross. He has also advised a number of European AIDS groups. He believes that people with AIDS (PWAs) and those who are seropositive have been under-used in the AIDS epidemic and in the epidemic of ignorance and prejudice which often follows the diseases spread. PWAs have a special role to play in helping people overcome prejudicial attitudes toward people with AIDS. This is both because people with AIDS have largely transcended the fear that people have of the disease and because meeting a PWA humanizes the situation. The interview also considers racial prejudice in NAPWA denial of the disease and the benefits in forging links between different groups affected by AIDS.