Ultimately, both people with AIDS and those without have to face their fear of death. This is a big one and the fear that we all have to confront sooner or later. It's just that PWAs have to confront it sooner than they thought they would have to. This big fear can only be reached and uncovered to begin the process of confrontation after we have successfully confronted and worked through our fears of more earthly things. Naturally, one doesn't eliminate fear by ridding the world of that which one is afraid of.
Many children have perfectly mundane fears of things like dogs and the dark.
They don't eliminate these fears by ridding the world of the objects of their fears. Rather, as children mature, they learn to face and confront their fears and thus befriend them. By becoming familiar with those things which we are afraid of, we lose our fear of them. ACT UP is an extraordinarily effective tool for people to use to help them confront and get to the other side of their fears. In meetings with government officials, we use the ACT UP name not so much to threaten others as much as to support ourselves in making demands.