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From 1983 to 1997, I am fully on heroin in between lots of rehab and lots of jail and lots of anything. From 1997 to about five, six, seven years, I’m totally on abstinence. After that, I was thinking to myself, total abstinence is like sitting all the time – like this… Sometimes I want […]
Categories: Age 50-54, Asia-Pacific, Male • Tags: disclosure, India, jail/incarceration, stigma, substance use/recovery
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I was suicidal when I was thirteen. Because I was gay, or “sissy” as they used to say in those days. I was actually planning how I was gonna do it, and I heard this voice in my head that said, “Don’t do it. Wait ‘til you get older. Things will be different.” I was […]
Categories: Age 65-69, Male, North America • Tags: alternative medicine, AZT/pre-"cocktail" medications, cancer, faith/spirituality, meditation, nutrition, positive outlook, suicide, support groups, thrombosis/blood clot, treatment access, United States
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I actually don’t do “My Story.” I don’t do testimonies. People like other people’s business, so it’s not what I do. It’s about the issues. The challenges of really living and coping, and serving, and supporting, and peer needs and so on. Yeah. It’s fine what we are going to be doing, in that it […]
Categories: Age 50-54, Female, North America • Tags: celibacy, dating, disclosure, doctor/patient relationship, employment/retirement, faith/spirituality, family, helping others, HIV/AIDS community dynamics, HIV/AIDS education, intergenerational, Jamaica, life experience/age as an asset, pre/post-test counseling, sex/sexuality, stigma, support groups, treatment a, working in HIV/AIDS community
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My partner at the time was having problems with his eyes. I had been speaking to him for some time about getting tested together. I said to him, “It’s time, now. I’m not suggesting any more – it’s time.” When he tested positive, I said, “Forget the test. Just do my CD4 count.” But they […]
Categories: Africa, Age 50-54, Europe, Male • Tags: ACTIVISM, advocacy, CD4 count, clinical trials, death/dying, faith/spirituality, kidney health, liver health, married/life partner(s), medication, Namibia, personalized treatment, side effects, Sweden, treatment access, Viral load/”undetectable”, working in HIV/AIDS community
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I was a model, I ran the largest modeling agency in Zimbabwe. And I looked the part. Coming from high society, it was rare to find people of my type talking about HIV or to come out in the open to say they were HIV-positive. We have public figures, these celebrities. How come we don’t […]
Categories: Africa, Age 50-54, Female • Tags: children/parenthood, class, disclosure, family, stigma, Zimbabwe
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I’m the typical “helper.” Actually that’s really good therapy, it makes you reflect upon yourself. I was an activist in the ‘70s, in gay liberation, and then I was part of the first UK response to HIV in 1982, 1983, and set up organizations and help lines and things like that. I never had a […]
Categories: Age 55-59, Europe, Male • Tags: ACTIVISM, death/dying, disability, early antiretroviral medications, England, family, finances, gay liberation, gratitude, grief/loss, Healthcare access, helping others, HIV/AIDS community dynamics, pre/post-test counseling, privilege, stigma, support, treatment access, United Kingdom, Work/Career, working in HIV/AIDS community
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People were just dying in ’83 and ’84. All my friends were dying around me, and then a very good friend of mine was diagnosed with it in ’84. And he moved home to his place in Taroma. Some people shunned him, but I never did. When I was told that it was HIV, I […]
Categories: Age 55-59, Asia-Pacific, Male • Tags: burial, death/dying, grief/loss, HIV/AIDS myths, isolation, moving home, New Zealand, stigma
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I discovered my status after I gave birth, in 1997. I was sick and I went to see a doctor at the hospital. I asked for a checkup and they told me that I had HIV. The child was breastfed, and I didn’t know, so she got contaminated. It was already difficult for me to […]
Categories: Africa, Age 50-54, Female • Tags: children/parenthood, cost of treatment, denial, family, fatigue, grief/loss, Ivory Coast, libido, married/life partner(s), menopause, mother-to-child transmission, NGOs, positive outlook, sex/sexuality, stress, support, treatment access
by admin
Neale: I met this man while we were conversing online. It was really a meeting of minds on a whole lot of levels. I could sense that he was very open about his status. He worked for an organization where he was identifiable as a positive man, and I was intrigued with how he […]
Categories: Age 50-54, Age 60-64, Couple, Male • Tags: Australia, dating, disclosure, fear, fear of transmission, libido, life experience/age as an asset, love, positive partners, sex/sexuality
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I think that my story is personal, it’s unique, and it is not tragic. And, I think it’s something that is probably a little bit different from other people’s stories, because I took it more as a relief that I don’t have to fear HIV anymore. I don’t have to – there was no fear […]
Categories: Age 50-54, Asia-Pacific, Male • Tags: Australia, celibacy, dating/relationships, disclosure, faith/spirituality, family, fear of transmission, France, Healthcare access, homophobia, love, Philippines, pre/post-test counseling, Recent diagnosis, relief, serodiscordant couple, sex/sexuality, stigma, Tanzania, treatment access, Viral load/”undetectable”
by admin
Sometimes, I allow myself to have a wallow day. But it doesn’t happen much now. It used to happen. I cried a lot in the first years. I find now that it’s very difficult to cry. I seem to have hardened quite a lot. And I guess it’s just about, you know, you see a […]
Categories: Age 55-59, Asia-Pacific, Female • Tags: AZT/early medications, children/parenthood, dating/relationships, denial, disclosure, family, grandchildren, grief/loss, helping others, insecurity, isolation/loneliness, Lipodystrophy, moving home, New Zealand, positive partners, weight/body image, Work/Career
by admin
We got kicked out of our church. We got kicked out of our small group. The pastor was in visiting me when the doctor told me, and he told his wife. And so we ended up having to leave the church, and then about a year later we walked into our small group that we […]
Categories: Age 65-69, Male, North America • Tags: faith/spirituality, helping others, married/life partner, stigma, support, support group, United States