Thursday, 17 October 2013

Major Work Woes

So it's getting down to the nitty, gritty, end of the year madness we are all used to. Got a million assignments piling up? I hear ya.
I was proactive in starting this assignment. I contacted my major people during the holidays and have been meeting with them regularly since. Then disaster struck, in the form of silence. By that I mean, the once completely willing, easily contactable and very keen contacts had disappeared off the face of the Earth.
'Fantastic,' I thought to myself. This is just what I need. Being 100% busy pretty much all the time, I am going to take what I have got off them, cut my losses and begin the search for more contacts.
I started with the Google, as all good students do. In my head I had the idea of contacting some larger media names to see if I could hit the jackpot and get one of them to agree to talk to me. I have some names and will keep my fingers crossed that they get back me. I have also found a civilian blogger, who journals about his AIDS, local and national issues. He is very passionate and provided his email on the blog so I have contacted him to try and get his thoughts on my topic.
I should probably give you the low down of said topic. I want to explore the way AIDS/HIV has been presented in the media since 1981 (when the first official AIDS case was reported). I incorporated my disappeared contacts, ACON, as they are a local organisation who support people living with HIV/AIDS and are celebrating their 25 year history in 2013. I have contacted the library and it has been confirmed that there is such a place that holds years of old records, dating back to the 1900s, so I plan to head there early next week to check it out and try and find some old documents/newspaper articles that will really exemplify the difference in today's media from then.
I already have two interviews and they turned out pretty well. One gives a really emotional and subjective account that I have used to begin my feature, which I will share here.

 _______________

"It is important for you to know more about AIDS because there is probably no other illness of our time that has been so dominated by both ignorance and misinformation" (Royal Newcastle Hospital Newsletter, October 1985)

Imagine you had contracted a disease that not only you didn't understand, but your friends, family, community and even doctors, didn't understand. You begin to fall ill and are sicker each day. At hospital, the nurses and doctors don't want you in their ward because they are afraid of you. Afraid to administer medicines, afraid to touch you and afraid to even breath in the air around you. People don't want to visit and your family are worried, but they too are scared.
Imagine being so sick, with a disease that was so stigmatised with negativity, that you began to realise you may die alone.
This was very close to being reality for a Hunter man in the early 1980s, who was found by his friends in a hospital room alone, in a dirty bed, food outside the door, in the dark, thirsty and drained, because he was being ignored by staff due to his HIV/AIDS status.
Thankfully, a lot has changed since the 1980s.

 _______________

I have also researched the current facts on HIV/AIDS and will include some interesting points, such as the fact that the infection rate has INCREASED since 2011. 
I want to incorporate as many older documents and quotes (such as the one to start the feature) because I feel it gives some authenticity and it also adds shock factor, as times have really changed since the 80s. 

If you have any ideas, or thoughts on contacts, I would love some feedback guys. Extra brains always help!

No comments:

Post a Comment