a movement to reclaim our dignity & end HIV stigma
Tell me a summary of your story of living with HIV. I was diagnosed with HIV in 1997 when I was around 36 years old. My viral load was very high at 976,000 copies/mL, and my CD4 count was just above 200 cell/mm^3, indicating that I was progressing towards death. Within one month ofRead More
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Tell us a summary of your story living with HIV/AIDS I didn’t know what my life would look like living with HIV. I didn’t know I would make it this far. I had no idea I would meet so many amazing people young and old. I had no idea IRead More
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Tell us a summary of your story living with HIV/AIDS I struggled a lot when I was diagnosed with HIV. I was diagnosed right as I was graduating from undergrad in May 2021. While I saw my friends and peers continue their education or begin their careers, I was paralyzed with shame. I began treatmentRead More
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Tell us a summary of your story living with HIV/AIDS I have been living with HIV since November 30, 2019. Being a black trans woman I always took pride in being negative. However, as life happened and obstacles and struggles occurred, certain lived experiences took me down a path ofRead More
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If you are living with HIV, please join the CelebrateUU movement to reduce the stigma of HIV by reclaiming our diagnosis, celebrating our milestones of reaching or maintaining a viral load that is “undetectable and untransmittable (U=U). With this movement, we put faces and voices to HIV, which also helpsRead More
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Michelle is a strong woman that HIV has been living with for more than 15 years. Michelle is the Chair of the Ryan White Planning Council for the Indianapolis Transitional Grant Area (TGA). She works with the ZIP Coalition in Region 7 (Marion County) and volunteers at the Damien Center.Read More
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Tell us a summary of your story living with HIV/AIDS I contracted HIV at the young age of 18 from my very first boyfriend who did not disclose his status. The health department pulled up to my mother’s house and knocked at the door and told me I needed toRead More
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Learn about the POWER of #UequalsU! For the FIRST TIME in the history of the #HIV virus, we have the SCIENCE to SQUASH THIS BUG! #SilenceEqualsSpread #KnowYourStatus #EndTheHIVepidemic #CelebrateUU #ScienceNotStigma
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“The concept of U=U is the foundation of being able to end the epidemic.” Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director, NIAID, NIH Interview at International AIDS Conference (July, 2019) The current COVID pandemic has thrust the public into better understanding viruses, viral transmissions, and terms like “flattening the curve.” It’s also got peopleRead More
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I have stacks of incomplete diaries, stemming back to as early as my senior year in high school. I came in and out of times when journaling was helpful, giving me shattered glimpses into periods of my life. There is more of a lifetime left off the page as on,Read More
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