Listen up as Advocate & Writer, Bruce Ward educates the younger generations about the 1980’s #AIDS crisis.

The following is a transcript of the conversation between Karl and Bruce.

BRUCE

For a long time, many of us felt invisible.

KARL

Hello there, welcome to “+TALK” on Plus Life, where we’re all about turning positive into a plus. Long-term survivor, we hear that term a lot in the HIV space. And joining me today is someone, who I think we could call a long-term survivor, who continues to thrive. Bruce Ward, nice to see you.

BRUCE

Nice to see you, Karl.

KARL

As I mentioned there, I mean, you acquired the virus back in 1984, before really it was, we were calling it HIV or AIDS, I think it was GRID back then, officially diagnosed in ’86, what were your initial thoughts, when you heard the news?

BRUCE

You know, at the time I was also working in the field as a AIDS educator for the New York City Health Department. And you know, I didn’t panic over it because we were thinking at that point that maybe 10% of the people who were HIV positive would go on to get full-blown AIDS. So I was determined to take care of myself and do everything right. And so I wasn’t very panicky at the time, that came later.

KARL

You mentioned there that you were an AIDS educator, being a person, then living with HIV, how much of your personal story and your experience were you able to share with people? Was that something you were sharing or because of the stigma and the fear still surrounding it, was it something you kept to yourself?

BRUCE

When I was working for the New York City AIDS hotline, I did not share my information with people I was talking to on the phone. And then I became the director of the CDC National AIDS Hotline. I wanted to keep my life pretty much separate, except for a couple of people who knew.

KARL

So a lot of your focus today, in terms of writing and speaking, we should mention, that you are an author as well, is to keep the memory alive of those early days, especially for younger gay men. How do you do that effectively without the fear factor that obviously existed because we work so hard to change the narrative that HIV is not a death sentence, that you equals you and all this great positive news, but if you wanna at the same time, educate and keep that alive, how do you balance that out?

BRUCE

It’s difficult and I think it’s gone in waves, you know, throughout my 40 years as a long-term survivor, you know, I’ve seen interest in the early days wane in different times and I think right now, I’m seeing more of an interest among younger gay men because they don’t know very much about the early days. And so I think the fear is gone for them. I mean, it’s not, you know, once the cocktail, the protease inhibitor cocktail came out in ’96. I think the big difference between the before and the after of that is that, less people were dying around them. So it became less of reality. So, you know, I tried for my writing and my talking and my public speaking to try to address younger audiences in general but particularly younger gay men, who are interested without instilling the fear and also without, you know, bashing it over their head because we don’t wanna play the victim.

KARL

What do you see today, in this day and age, that still reminds you of when this whole epidemic first began?

BRUCE

Well, COVID was very interesting. There were similarities and obviously differences between the early days, but it was triggering to all of a sudden have this pandemic, where people were afraid of other people for different reasons and different populations. But in a way, it was interesting, ’cause it was kind of comforting, that the entire world was feeling this now, as opposed to just, you know, parts of the segments of the population from before. I think it also prepared people who were long-term survivors or people who’d, you know, been living with the virus for a while or around, you know, the AIDS epidemic in general. I think it made us more resilient and stronger and more prepared. I don’t think I was as freaked out by the pandemic as many people were, ’cause they were experiencing this for the first time.

KARL

There were a lot of long-term survivors though, that talked about sort of a PTSD and a real sense of here we go again, as well though, during that, “Oh, my gosh, I’ve had to live through this once. Now we have to do it all over again.”

BRUCE

Yes and I think it also triggered the feeling of like, well, you know, the world didn’t pay much attention to us back then, and now the world is paying so much attention to this pandemic. You know, when I was working for the National AIDS Hotline, it was during the Reagan era and you know, as we know, he didn’t speak the word until his last year in office. So, you know, we were battling that, the similarities with what we were dealing with at the beginning of the COVID epidemic, you know, are there as well in terms of administrations.

KARL

As we look towards the future, and we know thankfully, that there are many people surviving, much longer, and long-term survivors like yourself of HIV, that this now really is something that if managed properly, we can expect a full and healthy normal, quote, unquote, “Life expectancy.” But what are some of the services specifically, do you think that are needed and where should we be putting our attention for long-term HIV survivors?

BRUCE

I feel that and I’m part of a long-term survivor community, which has been very, very important to me because I think for a long time, many of us felt invisible and separated. And so it’s important that people have come together on this. And I think many of us feel and I feel somewhat disenfranchised and yeah, I’m one of the very lucky ones, you know, I’m not homeless, I’m not, you know, poverty stricken. But there are many, many people that we’ve forgotten, who, you know, did survive that epidemic and are not, you know, need services, you know, housing, just general health care. There’s so many health concerns that are different from people who develop HIV after 1996.

KARL

Yeah and also I think most importantly to community and that sense of having that community and access to that community.

BRUCE

Yes, and I think that’s also why it’s been so important to tell our stories. I’m involved in a couple of groups. One is based out in San Francisco, called Honoring Our Experience and I’m involved in two different writing groups with them. And it’s all based on getting our stories out there. And I think, we have to get our stories out because we’re the ones who remember those early days and you know, once we’re gone, it’s gonna be up to history to write the stories instead of us.

KARL

Bruce Ward, thank you for all you do. Thank you for your time. It’s been a real treat to connect with you and have this, albeit brief, conversation.

BRUCE

Thank you so much, Karl.

KARL

That’s gonna do it for this episode of “+Talk.” If you want more information, check out our website pluslifemedia.com and please take a moment to follow us across social media, we are @pluslifemedia. Until next time, we’ll see you soon. Bye-Bye.