So thrilled and overwhelmed by the incredible response to my appearance on #tommytiernanshow

HIV stigma is so pervasive in Ireland. It is so damaging to the thousands of us living with HIV in this country. Want to help lessen it? Here are a few short things you can do:

Although thousands of us live with HIV, only a handful of people feel that they can be truly open about their status, as there is still so much fear and ignorance around HIV.

1) Talk to all your family and friends about HIV in an informed and non-judgmental way.

2) Scream it from the rooftops, “people living with HIV who are on effective treatment cannot pass on HIV sexually. The risk is Zero!” We can have children that are HIV negative too thanks to medication

3) As I said on last nights show, “HIV affects no one, it only affects me.” If a friends, family member or date tells you that they live with HIV, reassure them that nothing changes x

4) I took an open book approach with Tommy to help educate people and I felt comfortable sharing. That does not mean that you should ask half those questions to people living with HIV. We do not need to explain our sexual history or current sexual experience.

5) Have a deep understanding that people living with HIV are not ‘vectors of disease’. We are just very normal people trying to live our lives. That’s it. We just want to get on with it. Be loved. Share our love. Continue on with our very normal lives. We are just human.

6) With Ireland’s 2 degrees of separation, it is likely that you know someone living with HIV. By talking about HIV in an informed way, you could be that first person that someone could disclose their status to.

That is life changing.

Try to be that person