It's the Brian Laird show on W.N. Y.

Good morning again everyone. It's the Brian Laird Show on WNYC.

Good morning again everyone.

When we think of the AIDS epidemic,

often the faces we picture are those of white gay men,

right?

Although we now know that anyone can have HIV,

children, women, people of color, the virus

was at first portrayed largely as a plague

that affected white men who had multiple sexual partners who were also

usually white men. And this perception made those who got HIV through intravenous drug use,

heterosexual relations, birth, or even blood transfusions,

relatively invisible.

Visibility in this context is not just about media coverage

or seeing yourself represented.

When it comes to HIV and AIDS, being invisible,

rendered communities of people more susceptible to contracting the virus

and unable to receive needed treatment, invisible. the and WNYC Studios have launched the first episode of the latest season of the series Blind Spot.

It's called The Plague in the Shadows stories from the early days of AIDS and the people who

refuse to stay out of sight. Here's a preview.

AIDS was not just a medical crisis. It was and it remains a social disease. one that exploits the inequities that already defined so much of American life.

We literally had to convince the federal government that there were women getting HIV.

...