FEAR eats the soul

Having so much human contact withdrawn for something that was not fully in my control to prevent, realistically, makes me very wary of people. I do feel outside society here, because

in a small town people gossip and it gets fed back to you.
I feel people equate HIV too much with moralistic point-scoring and stereotyping:
‘You got this because you are a single mother’ is what gets thrown in my face. ‘You must have been having an abnormal sex life’ is another.
I have had people call me an ‘Aids whore’ in the street and I have been spat at too.
I hope to eventually leave here as the isolation is the worst...”

Gloria has a young daughter; both have HIV. She says HIV will never be accepted like cancer because of the way it’s transmitted:
“I’ve been living with HIV for over 13 years and my 12-year-old daughter also has HIV. She’s aware of her status. Personally, I’ve never really faced outright stigma. Although when I lived in France - where I was for many years - I felt very isolated, which is why I moved to England. Here I get a lot of access to support.
I told my daughter about her status when I felt she was ready. There’s no right time for this; you just have to assess the situation. She had started to ask lots of questions and it felt right.
She has been on treatment for four years now but has never really got that sick. I’ve not seen the need to tell her school and I really don’t know if my daughter has confided in anyone else. I don’t think so. I do worry about her and whether she does have fears; but it’s difficult to get her to talk even to me about these things. She saw a psychologist though she wasn’t very happy doing it, but she does like the child support group where I work.For me personally, my family have always been very supportive

from day one. Friends here too. When it comes to disclosing my status, the thing I’ve learned is there’s no need to tell everyone. The thing you have to work out is: ‘Am I going to benefit