The importance of representation in destigmatizing HIV

“They put me in a space of feeling like I didn’t matter and that my life was already over.” - Jordan, HIV patient

Transcript

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I feel that the health care providers didn't take my cultural sensitivity seriously.

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What they did was they put me in a space of feeling like I didn't matter and that my life was already over.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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It's very important for providers to be-- have representation to the community that they're serving. Because sometimes it's hard for people

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to trust medical providers. Representation is very important in media, because media is what people use to get information.

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I am a sexually fluid man. There are some black men that may look and say that I see someone that looks like me. If you ever looked at a commercial

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and they were talking about HIV, oftentimes, you see a certain type of representation in those commercials. So if you feel that that does not represent you,

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you may not pay attention. Media is so focused on having a focus around gay black men or gay men.

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Heterosexual men can still contract HIV. Women can still contract HIV. If you never get tested, then you never know.

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Having a provider that-- or a doctor-- that is of color is important to me. It's also important that if I do have

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someone who may not be of color, that they have cultural sensitivity. The medical community can do better with representation

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when it comes down to allowing themselves to understand that they need cultural sensitivity too. They can do better with learning about what is

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the community actually saying. And I think that there should be more medical providers of color that are more specialists when it comes down