Family ignorance

So David feels like ringing his aunty or something last night. Chatting away she asks him "How long have you had AIDS?". 


I dunno what he replied back but it just shows the ignorance out there. For the record neither of us has progressed to AIDS. Both of us our HIV viral load is at present undetectable from the medication. We are HIV positive. We do not have AIDS. In fact if we take our meds properly then there's no reason why we won't live out our lives normally. It's likely we won't die of AIDS but some other illness.

Well, you can't have ignorance without stigma now can you. Sure enough, a bit later in the conversation of David's, he told his aunty that we both had HIV. Her reply was a horrified "Has he got AIDS too?"


At the moment David doesn't want to have anything more to do with his family. I completely understand. This shit is on top of the statement made by his mother just before Christmas, when she agreed with him that he wasn't like the rest of the family because none of the rest of the family will die of AIDS.