If you are well enough to work, there’s no reason to give up working just because you know you are living with HIV. Most HIV positive people in the UK carry on their working lives just like anybody else.
Paul
I stopped working when I got my HIV diagnosis. That was really just because other people I knew who were HIV positive didn’t work. But I got bored after a few weeks of daytime telly and I felt my health and mood was suffering because of doing nothing. I wasn’t seeing people as much and my sleep patterns were all over the place.
Tricia
My job was a very stressful one, lots of deadlines and a busy pressurised environment. I didn’t feel the anxiety the job created was doing much for my health, so I switched career. I retrained as a physiotherapist – that was what I’d wanted to do when I was a girl. I enjoy my work so much more now.
Mary
I wasn’t able to work, as my papers hadn’t been sorted out yet. I volunteered at a local charity shop and got some experience there. It also got me out of the house, out of bed in the morning. I wasn’t earning, but got my expenses. I got first pick of some
of the nice clothes that came in, too.
Juanita
I didn’t feel comfortable telling my boss and the people I worked with. I talked to someone I trusted in the Human Resources department and she said I didn’t have to tell anyone except them, and it would be kept confidential. All my boss knows is I have a health condition that means I have to go for regular hospital appointments.
You don’t have to tell an employer you are HIV
positive. But it is useful for them to know that
you need to have check-ups and have a chronic
(ongoing) health condition. It is no one’s
business but yours what that health condition
is. This may be more difficult if you work for a
smaller organisation that doesn’t have a
separate personnel or occupational health
department. It is human nature for people to
ask questions but by law you do not have to
give any more details than you need.
Move on to Can I still travel abroad?