Work ...

I wanted to add this for the benefit of those who may encounter this site to get an impression of what it is like for some. This is my personal view. I would like to hear, please comment, on yours. Your experience & view will be different. For balance I welcome more positive comments.

Some have reported that they feel like they are being labelled "scroungers" with respect to claiming benefit.

Most of us, me included, worked. We had to give up for many reasons. In the early days it was the fatality of the illness. Latterly, it can be illness progression leading to being physically & mentally unfit for any work. Years of living with HIV, the stresses of day to day life & trying to maintain a career. Pressure from employers for you to leave your job, prejudice or the time you have to take off to attend to your health etc. Or a combination.

Some of us were professionals. Had a career path. Paid well and paid higher rate taxes. Myself included. Having to give up work for medical reasons wasn't a choice. Clearly your standard of living is affected. Of those I have spoken to. They would have liked to pursue there careers for the "well being" it gave them and the high standard of living it afforded them.

Having no choice but to claim benefits is an income cut for many.

Now with many out of their respective professions for some time. All other barriers to one side. Many feel "they have fallen behind". They would have to start again from the begining. With the added issues of health & in some cases age. Ruling this out.

Professional or othewise. Most worked and would love to be able to work for these reasons.

Though the general PR over HIV is that the drugs make for a "normal life". This doesn't consider the side effects and toll taken by some of us. On our health through taking earlier drugs.

Resistance to one drug can also rule out the options of several drugs that people are able to take in the future.

So some have breaks in treatment forced upon them for health reasons. This allowing the virus to re-take its hold & cause harm.

Also these drugs are not without there own side effects. Many can bring more difficulties and in turn more medication to alieviate medication.

You also have to take some medications at certain times. The right number of hours apart. Sometimes with food. Taking you medication at work can be difficult. People may ask questions. You also may have to change meetings etc. to ensure adherence to your therapy. The Disability Discrimination Act does cover making "suitable adjustments". However this relies on you telling your employer about your illness. With all the issues that brings over disclosure.

Insisting on your rights can be taken as adversarial. Having a negative impact on the employee/employer relationship.

Most of us don't like to ask for these concessions. Being seen as being treated more favorablly than our workmates raises questions as to "why?". If your privacy is being observed by your employer the lack of an answer can cause resentment amongst your peers. "We cannot have a meeting at this time because x is busy". When this happens with frequency the question is asked "why is x always busy at this time?" x is usually at their desk. They may not notice you have nipped to a private place for 10 minutes to take your medication.

Some employers are good and are willing to help & understand. Every day more efforts are taken to improve this understanding. However in my view their is still so much work to be done in this area.

In an ideal world. Being HIV+ and the efforts that need to be taken to control it. Would not be a problem in the workplace. However, aside from being unfit for work to begin with. You can see that there are also many hidden hurdles. If you were in fact able to work in the first place.