Hi price, while it shouldn’t be necessary to keep secrets in a fair world it is the public stigma and negativity associated with hepatitis C that causes cheese and many others here to hide their illness, sometimes to avoid ostracism themselves but often to protect their loved ones from others prejudices.

edit: perhaps be more mindful of your audience?

I have to agree with Gaj.
When I was first diagnosed I was pretty open about it but very quickly encountered more prejudice and ignorance than I cared to put up with and decided I was not going to disclose it at work and was very careful about who I told generally. It’s illegal to discriminate based on HCV or HIV status in the workplace in Australia but it’s easy to not employ or promote someone if you don’t want to by making it look like there’s another reason. I just didn’t give them the opportunity
One notable exception – when I decided to get my surf bronze and get into surf lifesaving 9 years ago I told them and they were OK with it seeing as they provide excellent training around contamination prevention. Very sensible. Gotta love the surf lifesaving movement!

My understaning about Price’s post is that nobody with HCV should feel ashamed, as HCV is a disease like any other one, however the HCV does provide an “indirect” discrimination. It is a sad reality many are facing. I doubt Price’s intention was to be funny, rather to pinpoint this stigma reality.

One of the explanation I have (mostly for.myself) about why people keep HCV secret is that apart from the issue related to the disease there is also the issue of the other’s acceptance, which turn into feeling rejected, discriminated, etc. It will take sometime until others will become aware that HCV can be treated and will consider HCV no longer as a scarry ghost, rather as a disease like any other. Greg Jefferys’s blog from the 26th of June is giving in my view more explanations about this.

Best Regards,
RHF

I post this in response to your last post cheese/Dennis, quoting something you said earlier.
After reading your post, it made me think about what you wrote above and what I and most others on this site like about it. We speak our minds and hearts here … true, sometimes we speak before we think and as Gaj has so eloquently pointed out before, proceed to hit the “submit” button, but as you and rohcvfighter point out, we eventually, do reach an understanding of what the intent is behind our words. THAT, is why I too love the people on this site.

Thanks to ALL who share their hearts and minds here

I agree that normalising the virus in the eyes of the public is important and understand that the medical profession uses tough minded cynicism amongst themselves to help them cope with what can be emotionally stressful jobs.

The thing about stigma is that it is not just what you think about the disease…..it is about how others perceive it and as a result view and treat you and how their behaviour makes you feel. If you and your loved ones are strong and resilient and don’t care too much about what other people think and you live somewhere that has and abides by antidiscrimination laws then you may be able to participate in life and your community in a reasonably normal manner. But I also fully understand and support those who choose not to expose themselves and their loved ones to the risks that the stigma presents.

I made the decision to start telling most people my story last November. Of interest, four of the people I told then disclosed they either have, had or are close to someone with HCV. These are all people I have known well, some closely, for many years which shows just how pervasive the stigma is. I can also vouch for Cheese’s comment about “HOW DID YOU GET THAT” this being my experience with about 90% of the people I have told. Another thing that came to light was that due to my closeness to the issue I assumed others had similar knowledge to me but I became aware of the appalling lack of knowledge that most people have of this disease, its symptoms, transmission and prognosis. No wonder there is much fear out there, the stigma prevents people talking about the issue and the resulting ignorance drives the stigma.

There were a number of reasons I decided to reveal my status to others, as well as the personal ones and spreading the word about generic DAAs as an available and affordable means of ridding the world of this pandemic, I feel now that for me it is important to help in some small way to educate people and hopefully lift the veils that stigma has created about HCV.

Great post Cheese. Plenty of us can relate. I sure can. And nobody round here gives a damn how a person got it.