Journeys to living well with HIV
Indigenous women and gender-diverse people share personal stories of their paths to living well with HIV.
Indigenous women and gender-diverse people face unique challenges navigating HIV testing, diagnosis, and long-term care. In this project, participants share personal digital stories of living well with HIV—stories that reveal both individuality and shared resilience.
Their stories are unique with common threads that bring messages of hope.
There is an urgent need for efforts to disrupt HIV-related stigma and discrimination, spread accurate information about HIV, and eliminate all barriers to people living well.
This project is related to the study “Understanding HIV-Related Stigma Through Photo-voice". As a follow-up to that study, we recruited participants to create digital stories about their experiences living with HIV.
Guided by its first participants, the project centered on stories of Indigenous women and gender-diverse people, who learn to craft 3–6 minute digital stories using their own words, images, and music.
To create opportunities for lived experience voices to tell stories of living with HIV
The intent is to dispel myths about HIV and create awareness of how individuals, services providers, governments and communities can eliminate barriers to living well with HIV.
Through bringing to light the multifaceted nature of stigma and its barriers to healthcare and social support, the project advocates for changes in policy and practice by revealing the voices of those affected.
“My hope is to raise awareness that HIV is treatable and preventable and that it is important that people get treatment early and find the supports they need.”
“Stigma hurts - but we can break it down, one conversation at a time.”
“I’m glad I found the strength and support to fight the stigma inside of me so I can help fight the stigma everyone else is scared to talk about…”
“I am a parent who is HIV positive, I lived with stigma but mothers with HIV don’t have to if people learn about HIV rather than judge.”
“My life now is filled with culture and people that love me. I have great supports and am not scared to express myself as an Indigenous women living with HIV. I no longer feel shame about who I was when I used drugs.”
