Silke Haller, an AIDS social worker, spoke at U of T’s Faculty of Social Work last Tuesday about her experiences as an HIV-positive woman and her work with drug abuse and AIDS patients. The event was part of U of T’s World AIDS Day events on December 1.

“I became HIV positive in the early 1980s,” Haller told the audience of about 30 people. “I acquired the virus from my partner, who got it through a blood transfusion. I had hoped to go to New York to work in fashion hair dressing, but I was refused a work permit because of my condition.”

After years of drinking and using a variety of drugs, she said, Haller became involved in the AIDS support community in Toronto.

“When I got involved in advocacy work and support groups in the mid-90s in Toronto, it was all oriented to men; there was very little attention given to women with this condition,” said Haller. “It was also difficult for me to deal with: I came from a reasonably good family, went to university and then got the sort of treatment I did. Some of the support workers I met treated me in a very condescending, patronizing manner.”

Ms Haller also talked about the effects of living with AIDS.

“You have to understand how having HIV/AIDS destroys people’s self-esteem,” Haller said. A lot of the people I’ve met used to have good jobs that they were satisfied with. Now, in order to qualify for disability and pay for the drugs needed to treat this condition, they have to give that up.”

Ms. Haller also described her own drug use and articulated her philosophy of “harm-reduction.”

“I never felt bad about my drug use until I started going to addiction counseling,” she said. “All they did was make me feel worse. I don’t think it’s good or healthy that addicts are told to completely abstain from using,” she continued. “There is a lot of misconception about usage. Bay Street is probably one of the heaviest users of cocaine. I was once surprised when I saw an old lady from Forest Hill buy a large amount of drugs. Not everybody becomes addicted to drugs or dies from using them.”

Most questions from the audience concerned the plight of Africa and difficulties African countries have in acquiring cheap AIDS drugs. More than two-thirds of the world’s AIDS victims are located in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Cheap drugs have to be provided, [but] I think pharmaceutical companies are simply refusing to help,” sad Haller. “My AIDS cocktail costs me about $5,000 a month.”