End AIDS

A Harlem survivor shares his experience with HIV/AIDS to call attention to December--world AIDS monthby Camille Sykes.Orbit Clanton was 20 years old when he was first diagnosed with HIV in 1982.  Back then it was still known as Gay Related Immune Deficiency (GRID) or gay cancer. The disease was just beginning to show up in communities in San Francisco, New York and the Washington-Baltimore area, where Clanton lived. As the unknown infection began to run rampant throughout the community, many died within two years or less after being diagnosed."I have seen the entire epidemic," says Clanton, now 49 and the co-founder and deputy executive director of Perceptions for People With Disabilities (PPD). The New York city based organization helps individuals who are living with HIV/AIDS and are visually handicapped or mentally challenged.Today we know this disease as HIV/AIDS. First introduced in the gay population, AIDS has touched everyone in some way across the United States and throughout the world. And Clanton is just one of the many who are fighting to end this virus for good.As an advocate for World AIDS Day, Orbit Clanton represents hope. Beginning on the first day of the month, December is set aside to reflect, unite, and fight against this deadly disease across the world. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV, and 20 percent are unaware they are infected. This number continues to increase each year with an estimated amount of 50,000 new HIV cases being introduced.The face of HIV/AIDS has changed since the early stages of the epidemic. Thanks to medical advances, many people infected live a normal life--until they tell someone they have the virus."This year HIV/AIDS turns 30 years old," says Clanton. "The theme this year for World AIDS Day is 'Getting To Zero', thats means zero new infection and zero discrimination."As President of the Healing Hope Ministry at Convent Avenue Baptist Church located in Harlem, Clanton spends much of his time devoted to people in the community who are living with HIV/AIDS. The statistics in Harlem alone are staggering. According to the Harlem United's website, "HIV/AIDS particularly has a disproportionate impact of communities of color with rates of new infection in Central Harlem more than twice as the rest of New York City.""When I think of World AIDS Day it's bittersweet for me," says Clanton. "I am really grateful to still be alive, and we pay homage to those who have died."Before Clanton found out he was HIV positive he was curious and uncertain about the virus. He took an AIDS test nearly three decades ago, and it came back positive. Still, he dismissed the results for 20 years. In 2001, a trip to the emergency caused Clanton to come to terms that he was HIV positive and deal with the disease.Clanton is optimistic this year, because of advances in care, treatment and prevention of the HIV/AIDS. "Living with this disease for over 29 years, I would describe my life as resilient," says Clanton. “And it’s because I'm still here.”The CCNY community honored those living with HIV/AIDS with a display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The quilt represents the half a million Americans who have lost the fight against AIDS, and was viewed by hundreds of CCNY students, faculty and staff in Shepard Hall at the beginning of the month in honor of World AIDS Day.To learn more about HIV/AIDS in communities of color and find out where to get tested, visit the Greater Than AIDS website.