The Vancouver Initiative for AIDS Innovation

I took this photo at an illegal dubstep show in an abandoned building a few weeks ago in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Other young people around me laughed drunkenly, casually grinding against one another and yelling out lewd STD jokes over the pulsating beats of the music.

Amidst all the bustling social activity, this dank, isolated corner started me thinking about how isolated HIV-positive individuals must feel at times, surrounded by the well-meaning ignorance of their peers. Most importantly, the scene reminded me how the disease has silently penetrated every pore of our city.

I continue to be amazed by how much misinformation exists about this disease and its realities -- even in a prosperous city like Vancouver with high quality-of-life and education rates. To this day, when I tell well-educated friends about my work with HIV/AIDS organizations, I still get appallingly ignorant questions such as "What if one of them touches you?"

If Vancouverites are this oblivious, it's harrowing to think of how the disease is understood in areas where factual HIV/AIDS material is not readily available – and what it is like for a young person who is HIV-positive in these areas, dealing with social stigma and public disdain on a daily basis.

Taking this photo brought me closer to understanding what that type of unadulterated loneliness must feel like -- and why NGOs that support those of us who are HIV-positive are so essential.

© Kaitlyn Braybrooke