INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE/NOVEMBER 29, 1988

 

 

 

Overcoming Prejudice:

Children Wit

AIDS has latched onto its newest
victims: children. Although inci-
dents of Canadian children carrying
the HIV virus are rare, the disease
is spreading and professionals arc
scrambling to create real support.

Cathleen Smith, a Douglas Col-
lege instructor in Early Childhood
Education, is presenting a pediatric
AIDS workshop at the International
Early Childhood Conference on
Children with Special Needs, held
in Nashville, Tennessee later this
month,

According to Smith, special solu-
tions must be Icarmcd in caring for
these children, including overcom-
ing the AIDS stigma which is
perpetually fed on ignorance,
prejudice and shame.

"Because AIDS is connected
psychologically with things people
don't like to think about---blood,
death---they end up being more
sympathetic to a child with
Icukemia than a child with AIDS."

She said it’s most important to
respect the child and appreciate his
or her illness, but the name or cause
of the particular illness is ir-
relevant. "It’s about clarifying
values. A child is a child and it
doesn’t matter how he or she got
sick."

As a representative of the B.C.
Taskforce of Women and Children
with AIDS, Smith’s role at the con-
ference is to teach childcare
professionals how to better respond
to these children with special
needs.

"Although a child might have
AIDS," she said, "he or she could
still function in groups with other

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Cathleen Smith, Early Childhood
Education instructor.

children---and with no risk of
spreading the infection." Smith
has developed projects and
strategies concerning working
and playing with AIDS-infected
children.

Alongside these children, their
family members are also victims of
the situation, says Smith. The fami-
ly also requires creative, sensitive
and substantive support from a
world which too quickly judges and
rejects.

"There’s great shame associated
with their child having AIDS, be-
cause often a child with AIDS
means an adult in the family has
AIDS.

If achild has AIDS because her
mother was infected by a blood
transfusion at the birth of an earlicr
child, she said, people have greater
compassion for that child (and
mother) than if the disease was
passed through the mother’s in-
travenous drug use.

 

 

Coming

Events x

(Unless otherwise indicated, all events
take place in the Performing Arts
Theatre, Room 4100 (4th floor, North
Building). For tickets and information
call the Douglas College Box Office
520-5488.)

@ Wednesday, Nov. 30 10:00
am to 5:00 pm Insect
Display. In Biology Lab,
room 3712. Free.

@ Thursday, Dec. 1 12:00-
1:00 pm. Foundation
Video Sneak Preview.
Room 2203. Video is nine
minutes long, to be shown
every 10 minutes.

@ Dec. 1,2,3 & 89,10 8:00 pm
Theatre Production
"Battle of Angels". A
studio play by Tennesse
Williams. General $4;
Students/Seniors $3.
(Room 4140).

@ December 2 & 3 2:00 pm
Royals Classic Men’s
Basketball Tournament. 4
American teams and 4
Canadian teams.
Gymnasium.

@ Saturday, Dec. 3 & Sunday,
Dec. 4 8:00 pm.
Music for Chorus, Winds,
Brass, Organ &
Percussion, presented by
the Douglas College Choral
Society, Tatsuo Hoshina -
director, Blair Fisher - guest
conductor, Ulo Valdma -
organist. Tickets: General
Admission $10; Students/
Seniors $8.

ER cS RB SNE A

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