UN disability convention to help HIV-positive

Australia’s ratification of the UN Disabilities Convention has been praised by advocates for HIV-positive people who hoped it would lead to extended protections against unfair discrimination in Australia.

Federal disability anti-discrimination law did offer some protections for people with HIV, Positive Life CEO Rob Lake told Sydney Star Observer, but attitudes of employers don’t always match up.

When people with HIV face discrimination it’s not always on the existence of the virus, it may be a complementary illness, he said.

When a person starts to experience conditions associated with the virus and cannot work in the same way as they did before, then ideally their employer would sit them down to discuss ways of making the job more flexible, Lake said.

The protections are there to try and limit employers who say -˜you can’t do the job anymore, you’re sacked’. That’s how people often experience it, Lake said. But sometimes they can keep working with more flexible conditions.

The early ratification of the Convention by Australia, one of the first countries to do so, will also increase the country’s position in overseeing its implementation. As other countries sign and ratify the Convention, people with HIV will face fewer travel and migration issues, Lake said.

We absolutely supported [being included in the disabilities legislation], because it’s not like it defines us, he said. A lot of people with HIV don’t want to identify as having a disability.