Touchdown… I finally land in Huntsville International Airport at 10:00 pm. I felt like it was two in the morning and I walked all the way to Huntsville from Orlando on foot. I was exhausted, but what a week it had been. As I walked into the hotel upon my arrival I was awed by its size. I felt lost as I scanned the room for a familiar face and it didn't take long for one to emerge. Bruce Richman came up to me and greeted me with a hug and I felt instantly at ease knowing that I wasn't alone. He showed me around the hotel where everything would be, helped me to get registered for the conference...
KatieAdsila's blog
I'm sitting here thinking about an upcoming conference that I'll be attending in the next few weeks, thinking about my schedule, my expectations and anticipations, but mostly about the people I'm excited to see and others I'm eager to meet. I love these conferences, these gatherings of community. Community is a wonderful thing, it gives us a sense of belonging and security in commonality. We're comforted in knowing that we're not alone and have strength and support in numbers with common goals, and familial-like bonds form. These are important issues to us as human beings so we seek community...
I remember being in the seventh grade living on Cape Cod in the early 80's, and the fear of AIDS that gripped society at the time. Stigma was a monster in those days, greater than the Boogeyman under your bed, just being perceived as gay meant that you had the deadly disease and thus a danger to all who came in contact with you. I was in middle school in Bourne at the time, and having a deep southern accent didn't make me very popular. I was teased and bullied relentlessly; one of their favorite names they loved to call me was "FarmAIDS". This was the first year of Willie Nelson's Farm Aid...
I'm still a very young advocate, having just gotten into HIV advocacy a year and a half ago, but I'm no newbie to depression. As a transgender individual I've lived with deep and debilitating clinical depression since I was eight years old. I should be an expert on the topic by now, you might think anyways. Over the past year I've been doing pretty good, despite having gone through a divorce after twenty three years and my children effectively disowning me. My therapist and my meds have really done their job for the most part, but sometimes I still really struggle and lately I've been going...
I first heard the Undetectable equals Untransmittable message in 2016 and it changed everything about how I felt about myself. I was diagnosed in June of 2000 so that’s 16 years of living in the dark; for 16 years I felt like and saw myself as a living, walking, breathing bottle of poison. For the first few years I was even too afraid to have much to do with my own children, so terrified that I could pass it on to them. HIV education wasn’t very sufficient in those days, at least not for me. I was basically given a few simple rules to follow to keep everyone in my proximity safe and then sent...
Long Term Survivor day is coming up soon, a day when we celebrate the longevity, the courage, the strength and especially the wisdom of those who have lived with the disease for many years, through the days of lesser knowledge and fewer HIV meds, huge cocktails and greater stigma and fear. Long term survivors have shown us which medicines work and what regimens don't, the effects of HIV on the body and mind over time, and what methods of prevention are most effective. We have learned much from them in the past and we ever benefit from their experience. I sat and wondered just how many years...
I just spent four days with the most amazing and inspirational women as I have ever known. Yes, I attended PWN-USA's Speak Up 2018 National Leadership Summit for Women, where for three days we not only were educated in intensive and informative work groups but we also came together in a strong bond of sisterhood and solidarity. That sisterhood and solidarity is a beautiful and powerful part of PWN’s organization. While I was at the conference a woman gave me three strings that were tied together at one end, after I got home I sat down and reflected on my experience with my sisters during the...
I first arrived in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Thursday the 12th at 11:00 am. Not much was happening on the opening day except for Summit registration at 12:00 and the opening session and dinner at 6:30, so after registering I had plenty of time for a much needed nap, an exploration of the hotel, a walk on the beach and finally a shower before dinner. At the opening session we heard from a panel of women and one man (yes PWN welcomes men as well) who spoke about the power of meaningful involvement and "what becomes possible when the communities most impacted by an issue are defining the...
My name is Katie Adsila Willingham and I'm from a small, rural town in northwest Alabama called Tuscumbia. For all you history buffs out there, Tuscumbia is the birthplace of Helen Keller, and we're not really known for much else lol. I was diagnosed HIV+ in June of 2000 and with the help of an amazing ASO serving north Alabama I have been undetectable for 17 of those 18 years. However, regardless of my undetectable status, I have not always felt safe. I remember when I was diagnosed the look in the eyes of the doctors and nurses that said I wasn't going to make it very long. My viral load was...