Ashly

“One day, I went to work and just didn’t feel well. If I remember correctly, I had even passed out. I left work to see a doctor. While discussing my symptoms, he asked me if I had ever had an HIV test. I hadn’t. He asked me if I wanted to do one and I said sure. Two weeks later, I was diagnosed with HIV. Surprisingly to me, I didn’t feel upset, I just felt disappointment in myself.

Living with HIV can be very lonely. You find yourself in isolation, especially when it comes to your relationships. All relationships, physical, emotional, and mental. I’m thinking about family, about having a family, about personal relationships with friendship and love.
 
I strongly believe the government is not ready or prepared for a generation of aging people living with HIV. The government never expected us to live this long. Retirement is a concern; we need to find places that accept us as people living with HIV, not put us in a wing at a hospital where they can tuck us away. We deserve the same quality of life during retirement and we deserve to have our needs met.

We must remain resilient in order to advocate and demand acceptable health care, housing, gainful employment, education, for people living with HIV. 

We need to be more involved with policy and decision making at a government level. Our experiences can and will pave the way to help future generations of people living with HIV.”