Positively: People Profiled

The Teenagers

Terrence
Terrence is gay African American young man of 22 living in Washington, DC. Terrence deals with depression and a history of being discriminated against for his sexual orientation. His story examines both the conditions that put him at risk and the challenges he faces living with HIV. Terrence tries to help other young people avoid the isolation he felt as a gay, HIV positive teenager. He gets support from a community youth group that provides members with a safe forum to share their experiences as sexual and racial minorities, as well as people living with HIV.

Nina
Nina is a heterosexual white woman, age 17, living in New Jersey. She is a typical high school junior except for the fact that she was born with HIV. Nina learned her HIV status at 13 when her mother died from AIDS. Even though she has been relatively healthy for 17 years, she is still confronting the loss of her birth family and the difficulty of being an HIV positive teenager. Nina discusses how seeing a therapist has helped her deal with the death of her mother and the stress of her medications.

 

The Adults

Dottie
Dottie is a 23 year old African American woman. She lives in Trenton, NJ with her six year old son who is HIV negative. Dottie found out she was HIV+ when she became pregnant at age 16. Dottie's story is one of incredible resiliency and determination. She went from living in a group home for HIV+ teens to finding a full time job and buying her own house. She shares the difficulties of coping with a turbulent past on top of dealing with her HIV status and trying to make a future for her son. Her story emphasizes the importance of self-advocacy and spirituality to maintaining physical health.

Louis
Louis is a Latino man in his early forties living in Brooklyn. Before his diagnosis five years ago, he led an active life with a full time job as a youth counselor. In his free time, he pursued his life-long passion for music. Many things changed in Louis' life when he learned he was HIV positive. Because there is still shame associated with HIV in many communities, he isolated himself to keep his status a secret from his family and friends. His story addresses the loss of work and independence from HIV related illnesses – and shows how recovering mental health can be the turning point in the struggle to recover from illness.

Craig
Craig is a gay white man in his forties who lives with his partner, John, in Baltimore. He was diagnosed in the late 1980's when AIDS was devastating the gay community.
Even before Craig was diagnosed with AIDS, he struggled with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. He relies on a combination of drug treatment and psychiatric therapy to manage his condition but it still affects his everyday life and health. His story focuses on the benefits of sharing challenges with others who are HIV+.

The Children

Mary & Bob, Gabby, Cassy & Ashley
Mary and Bob are a white foster couple in New Jersey who care for three HIV+ girls, ages 6, 7 and 8, who have a variety of physical and emotional challenges. Each child has her own unique set of issues, both emotional and medical. And the challenge for Mary and Bob is to care for them as individuals while also giving them the sense that they are a family. They discuss: handling issues of death and dying, especially the loss of birth parents; medication adherence; and learning and physical disabilities. They explain how much support groups with other caregivers of HIV+ children have helped them cope and learn strategies for helping the children.