Who will teach the nursing home staff that HIV infected elders are not terrible dirty people? Who will teach them, educate them and instill some compassion and kindness into them? How will we be treated as elders in our twilight years? It's coming, for so many of us who were told we had 6 months to live. Now it's 25 years later and I am left to wonder, ponder and worry about the people who will tend to our needs as we start losing the ability to tend to them ourselves.
I already lost the opportunity to attend college and get a degree because my college fund was squandered away by its financial guardian when I was declared terminally ill at 18. Now the aging is my top concern. I didn't think I was going to make it this far.
Will we be put in a separate community? The non positive elders won't want to share their space with us I am sure, and their family and friends won't like it either. Why would it be any different when we are old and defenseless? Helplessly dependent on someone else, likely a stranger with minimal training, no different than it is now when we are in the medical community and the doctors and nurses are not properly trained.
Honestly, I have this idea in my head but I have no idea how to make it happen. To save us from dying in shame and discrimination as most of us have lived our lives so far. I would really like to age and die in peace amongst like people and properly trained caretakers. So somehow if we could purchase estates around the country and get to training people now and setting up maintenance trust funds for the facilities then we may have a chance at a peaceful ending to this journey.
The bottom line is: what will happen to me and my HIV sisters that are surviving to our soon to be "Golden" years...when our voices aren't as loud and strong as they are now, who will speak up on our behalf?
