Kim's Eye-Opening Experience

July 31, 2012

I began my day wearing my “I don’t know my HIV status” T-shirt with a full day of shopping ahead of me, including trips to the hardware store and the mall. I was a little nervous going into my day unsure of the reactions I would receive. After all, I was putting some of the most private information a person has on display, and it made me uneasy to think of how it would be perceived. However I was in for a much different experience than I had worked up in my head.

I went to the hardware store first, and surprisingly no one seemed to pay attention to what I was wearing. I approached a store employee to help locate a certain product; he looked at my shirt, but then politely directed me to the product with no mention of the shirt I was wearing. I perused the store for a while just browsing. I could see people reading my shirt but no one said a word. I couldn’t stop the thoughts swirling in my head ranging from “why is no one saying anything to me?” to “is it because they think I may have HIV?”, and “maybe they really aren’t paying any attention to what my shirt says.” I had hoped for some reaction, so confused and discouraged, I paid for my items and left the store.

Next stop: the mall. When I arrived I discovered it was a busy day with plenty of people roaming around. I went into a store and browsed for a while when a saleslady approached me and asked if she could help me. I turned to her and asked if they had a certain size and when I did, she read my shirt and semi froze for a moment (finally, a reaction!) I was hoping she would ask me about my shirt, but instead she told me that she would look in the back and left. She returned with the correct size, yet this time she was much less friendly and excused herself quickly. I continued shopping for a while and when I went to check out, I made sure she was the one to assist me. While she was ringing up my purchases, I explained why I was wearing the shirt, and told her a little bit about the campaign. She looked very relieved and told me that she didn’t know how to react because she couldn’t understand why someone would just wear a shirt like that. 

On the ride home, I caught myself thinking about what it might be like to live with HIV and how difficult it must be to tell people that information and have someone reject you because of it. I learned a lot from this experience. I learned that we, as people, don’t pay attention to each other. I also learned how real the fear must be of being rejected due to your HIV status. This was a wonderful eye opening experience for me and I am happy that I was able to be a part of this learning experience.