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The
Book..."POSITIVE"
David Menadue is a journalist and
an AIDS activist. He is currently President of the National Association of
People Living with HIV/AIDS. He was awarded an Order of Australia in 1995. He is
the Associate Editor of "Positive Living", a national magazine for
people living with HIV/AIDS and since 1994 has been writing a regular column in
the magazine of living with AIDS.
Positive is the story
of my survival for many years beyond my doctor’s prognosis of two to three
years after my first AIDS-defining illness in 1989.
Positive was published by Allen and
Unwin on August 8 2003.
My diagnosis as
HIV-positive in 1984 (just as the test for the virus had been developed) began a
period of adjustment to the stigma and discrimination that was directed to
HIV-positive people in the eighties, to the reality of living with a potentially
fatal disease and to the feelings of grief and loss at the death of many
friends.
I do not have any
particular reason to explain my survival against the odds—to become one of the
longest survivors with AIDS in Australia. I believe a combination of medical
expertise, treatment developments, support from friends and family – and a
positive frame of mind— are some of the reasons why I am fortunate to still be
here today to tell my story.
Positive is also my
autobiography giving details of my growing up in a small Victoria country town,
my realisation that I was different from other boys in my adolescence and my
coming out as a gay man in the seventies.
I hope you will be
interested in purchasing a copy through major bookstores or through the online
shopping site at www.allen-unwin.com.au
David Menadue
david@davidmenadue.com
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