"but you look great!" hahahaha, thats the anwer often I hear when I tell somebody that I have AIDS. As if I should look like crap for them to beleive me. Reading some of the posts about privacy and disclosure has me with my thinkin cap on again. I think it is of great importance for a person living with HIV to be careful about who the disclose to. After all this disease is not an easy one for other people to hear we have. I was told on the day of my diagnosis to not tell anyone. Not even my family until I had time to consider the reaction. How odd is that? Only with HIV are we counseled to keep quiet. All under the guise of "Its for your own good" Even then it hard to keep busy bodies from constantly asking what is the matter with you. I also learned very quickly that when you tell one person, even the closest of friends, that they are gonna tell some too. In fact it isnt really fair to disclose to someone and then ask them to keep it to thenselves. How can they? Especially if they are close to you, they are probably hurting at the news themselves and will need to talk about. So I keep it somewhat private now, although its getting harder with doing public service and other such things to help in the fight against stigma that AIDS brings with it. If your interested check my website that is my small effort to help fight social stigma, www.scottsfriends.com.Some day I hope that we dont have to stop ourselves and ask ourselves if telling the next person will have some kind of hidden cost that may come with the disclosure. Until then we should all respect peoples wishes of privacy and pray that when they do get up the confidence to say,"I have HIV" that they wont regret it. Peace to all, your friend,Scott
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I personally don't give a damn what anyone thinks of me so I'm open about it. This could have happened to anyone I know. I'm neither ashamed nor embarrased.
To each their own though. I could see not telling an employer or coworkers, but I see no excuse to hide from a partner, close friends or family. I don't need people who are unsupportive in my life anyways. I've yet to have a single negative reaction.
Thanks for the comments, its good to see that people are willing to stand up say how they feel. And I think it is also a bit courageous. I work for and hope for the day when everyone feels that way and that HIV becomes something completely in everyones past. Best wishes and peace to all, your friend,Scott