Having managed to make it through AIDS Awareness Week Activities and the many World AIDS Day events I was scheduled to attend, the day left me thinking about how things have changed and progressed over the past 25 years. How we have been battling this infection and at the same time reminded about how some things have not progressed at all when it comes to the average person’s thoughts and beliefs about HIV/AIDS and the people who are infected.

Persons living with HIV and AIDS along with persons working in the HIV/AIDS field have made great progress in the last 25 years, in prevention and education regarding how HIV is transmitted and spread from one person to another. We have gone to public schools, community centres, reserves, malls and even the plus 15’s of Calgary’s downtown core to get the message out to people that HIV is not cured nor is it going away any time soon. Sadly we are also unable to access some places where youths - our most vulnerable and precious resource - lie, to provide them with truthful facts on HIV transmission and prevention, along with real life stories from the people living with the disease. Another large population who missed out on early and ongoing HIV education is my own generation, the 40 plus crowd (you know who you are) who swallowed the line in the early years that AIDS “only affects gay people” and “you can see what a person with AIDS looks like anyway” – a mentality infused by the media and governments of the time.

I have often witnessed and stand as an example of how the progress in HIV treatments and medications have helped persons infected with HIV live much longer than could have ever been imagined by doctors in the early 1980’s, back when HIV was first beginning to emerge. When I was first diagnosed with HIV in 1988 I was told 5 years would be the longest I would survive, and that was being optimistic as the average life span after HIV diagnosis was around 3 years at the time. Fortunately the development of new classes of drugs called Protease Inhibitors came to light and when combined with the Anti Retro Viral drugs we already had, it made for an incredible impact for many in preventing our early demise. Sadly again not everyone benefited from these new medications and there are still many areas of our country and in other parts of the world where many of these mediations are not accessible to everyone who needs them. The reality of costs and budgets has a direct and complicated impact on what medications are covered, and by what plans; muddled further by the never ending who-pays of the private insurance company health plans.

I have watched the progress in breaking stigma’s and discrimination’s by our youth over the past 25 years who have grown and developed into a population of educated, informed and articulate individuals when it comes to what they know about HIV and AIDS. They have learned from us and have taken this information with them into their future lives as a tool to protect them and perhaps help educate others who do not know the facts. They do not seem as judgmental as my peers when it comes to gender, sexual orientation, colour and ethnicity and that has broken down so many discriminatory and harmful beliefs about each other, making the world and our communities a better place to live and grow as human beings.

I have watched the progress in how families accept and support the ones they love when they discover that they are living HIV positive or with AIDS. I have managed to see how it has pulled my family closer together after a time when we were all so distant and disconnected from each other’s lives. I also remember the times past and present when people with HIV were, and continue to be, shunned by their families and left to manage their life and illness alone and in isolation; at times until the very end. The saddest thing I have ever witnessed was to watch someone pass away with no family at their side, only because of their disease.

I realize that the article to this point has a balance of positives and negatives regarding progress made in treatment and education surrounding HIV/AIDS. There will always be positive and negative parts to treating and addressing HIV in our personal lives, communities, families and the broader world. It is really up to us as individuals as to how we will choose to address HIV/AIDS and those persons infected and affected.

People often ask me how I manage to do so well and remain so involved in this work. Well the reality is that my personal outlook has a direct impact on my own well being and the well being of others with HIV. I am also blessed with a partner, family and friends who are by my side and give me the love, support and guidance that I need.

I also noticed I used the same word in many of my responses over the years; that being the word “hope”.

I have hope, knowing that companies are working to develop new medications to treat HIV infection and perhaps even find a vaccine. I have hope in knowing that there is a generation that knows the facts and understands the realities for persons living with HIV/AIDS and can move past judgment and discriminatory action. I have hope, seeing professionals working in HIV/AIDS fields who continue providing the facts and tools to our communities to prevent further HIV infections from happening. I have hope in knowing that other people with HIV are connecting and supporting each other in a way that only they can – relating to, and understanding one another. I prefer to look at and live with the good, and understand there will often be the bad to deal with. I therefore choose to believe there is always hope for a future living with HIV.