Prior to the passage of the ADA there was a fight by activists starting in the late 1980s to include HIV/AIDS as an example of a condition covered by the ADA. However, this alienated some conservative politicians who associated HIV/AIDS with homosexuality and drug use. This became more of a sticking point when conservative lawmakers wanted to include an exemption to the ADA so that restaurants would not have to employ individuals who were HIV-positive. Disability activists and Democratic politicians refused to remove HIV/AIDS from the legislation.

HIV/AIDS and the Americans with Disabilities Act

HIV/AIDS activists often used rhetoric similar to that of disability activists. One example of this was in 1985 the National Association of People with AIDS was established the name was meant to mirror the usage of person first wording found in disability activist movements of the time (e.g. person with a disability) which was meant to resist the framing of individuals with AIDS as passive patients or dying victims.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

The NBWHP was one of the first Black organization to mobilities around HIV/AIDS activism and to focus on Black women's experiences with HIV/AIDS, however, the NBWHP is often not discussed in histories of HIV/AIDS activism because the NBWHP was based in Atlanta and Washington D.C., whereas other major players in the HIV/AIDS activist space like Act Up were based in New York City and San Francisco because of the large populations of gay men in these cities.

The NBWHP and HIV/AIDS Activism Histories

Schalk argues that the NBWHP's approach to HIV/AIDS is a prime example of how health activism work can work to reduce the severity and incidence of disability, illness, and disease while also participating in disability politics by supporting those who are disabled, ill and sick. The NBWHP's HIV/AIDS activism is a prime example of how organizations can do this work in antiracist, feminist and anti-ableist ways. 

How the NBWHP's Approach to HIV/AIDS Is An Example of Black Disability Politics

Schalk, Sami. Black Disability Politics, New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781478027003

Black Disability Politics

HIV/AIDS Activism and Disability Activist Movements

An informational packet given to potential members of the NBWHP's New York Chapter states, "the complexity and diversity of health problems experienced by Black women requires a comprehensive plan of action with strategies designed to identify and eliminate root causes, promote prevention and wellness by creating new health ways of living and relating, early diagnosis, treatment and follow-up, and maintenance of life with as much comfort, independence, dignity and joy for everyone, including those who have severe disabilities, or are chronically or terminally ill." This statement reflects a lot of the duality we find in the NBWHP's actions around HIV/AID of both promoting prevention of HIV/AIDS while supporting those who already had HIV/AIDS.

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