“I don’t want anyone else to go through this discrimination in the future”

My experience of discrimination

I was looking for life insurance. They went through lots of personal questions, as I knew they’d have to – my medical history, my age, my HIV status.  

The insurance agent had my name and address and said he’d send everything through the post. But I didn’t get anything for weeks.  

They needed more information and texted me with my name saying, ‘we need more information on your HIV status’. It came up on my phone, so anyone could have seen that and read it.

I was in complete shock that they’d text about something as personal as my HIV status. Did they not realise the sensitivity of this? This was their job, and I couldn’t believe I had to tell them how to do it. 

Sharing my information

My neighbour, a while later, received a letter where he could see his address but no name through the window of the letter. He opened it and saw all my insurance information. He had access to all my medical history and HIV status – all because they had sent the letter to the wrong address.  

It was panicking, knowing he had all my personal information. He could do whatever he wanted with it. He could blackmail me, share it online, or hate crime me. I could not believe this had happened.  

I was so upset and spoke to my HIV clinic. They hadn’t heard of this happening before, but they were incredible, getting me local counselling information and putting me in touch with National AIDS Trust’s discrimination service.

Getting the support of the service

I spoke to the discrimination caseworker. They were absolutely amazing. I needed backup, which they gave. They made them aware of how unacceptable this was, and they sat up a little bit more after that.  

The insurance firm offered me £1000 in compensation and assured me they would prevent this from happening in the future. I wasn’t bothered about the money. I wanted them to be aware of what they’ve done and the impact that it has had on me and my mental health. I just don’t want anyone else to go through this in the future. 

The discrimination caseworker understood that we couldn’t change what had happened, but we could hold them to account. It was amazing what they have done to support me, and I’m full of appreciation for the discrimination support service.  

Speaking to the service reassured me that I wasn’t on my own and I didn’t have to handle this by myself. For anyone else experiencing discrimination because of their HIV status, the support and help are there if you need it.