Young Victims of AIDS / HIV Are Subjects of Cable Specials

In a list of worst things, AIDS and HIV would rank right up there, but so would the fear and ignorance that allows those infected to be dehumanized and ostracized.

Today, World AIDS Day, MTV and the Disney Channel eloquently drive that point home by humanizing two of the faces that the disease wears: young children and young adults.

The Disney Channel earns high marks for heart in its first ever AIDS special, “Friends for Life: Living With AIDS,” directed without heavy-handedness by Barbara Kopple. Although many children dealing with the disease appear in the documentary, it revolves around 11-year-old Chris, articulate, determined to survive, and achingly vulnerable: He looks forward to a return visit to a special camp for kids because there will be people there willing to “open their arms and hug me.”

It isn’t enough that Chris and the other children must choke down pills daily and receive medical treatments. They and their families must also deal with fear-driven cruelties. Chris lost his father to AIDS and his mother is sick as well; he and his uninfected olderbrother were forced to leave school after word got out. Chris is often afraid that “someone’s going to bomb your house if you tell them,” that friends will turn cold, and that no one will offer a kind or loving touch.

The same is true of the young adults in MTV’s documentary, “True Life: It Could Be You.” Produced in conjunction with the Kaiser Family Foundation as part of the MTV / Kaiser sexual health initiative, it was made by Rebecca Guberman, 26, and Jennifer Jako, 25, who met after they learned they were HIV-positive. The pair talk to peers about living with AIDS / HIV, delivering frank portraits of lives forever changed. Some are still hopeful; others are seemingly hopeless. While most of those interviewed are physically healthy, they suffer the loss of human contact and the fear that they may always be alone.

Both specials reach out to hearts and minds, with facts about the disease, its prevention and hotline information, and with eloquent appeals to empathy and compassion.

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* “Friends for Life: Living With AIDS,” Disney Channel, 8 p.m. (repeats Friday, 10:05 p.m.; Sunday, 8 p.m.; Monday, 10:15 p.m.; Dec. 10, 10:10 p.m.; Dec. 29, 10:30 p.m.); TV-PG. “True Life, It Could Be You,” MTV, 7 p.m.