Let's Kick (ASS) AIDS Survivor Syndrome
Let’s Kick ASS is a grassroots movement of long-term survivors, positive and negative, honoring the unique and profound experience of living through the AIDS epidemic. We’re dedicated to reclaiming our lives, ending isolation, and envisioning a future we never dreamed of.SPONSORS OF NATIONAL HIV/AIDS LONG-TERM SURVIVORS AWARENESS DAY JUNE 5

News About AIDS Survivors Summit

By Tez Anderson 13 April 2014 Action, Aging, AIDS, AIDS Elders, AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS), Awareness Day, Event, Health, HIV, Long-term Survivors, Mental Health, PTS - Post-Traumatic Stress, Resilience, Seniors, Social, Stigma, Survival No Comments

Let’s Kick ASS is the lead sponsor of National HIV/AIDS Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day on June 5. The 34th anniversary of the first reports of AIDS by the CDC in 1981.

This year’s theme, “We’re Still Here,” reflects the strength and resilience of the generation of survivors who lived through the darkest decades of the AIDS epidemic—the 1980s and 1990s. The We’re Still Here campaign continues the work of Let’s Kick ASS by focusing on the lives of long-tem survivors. By optimizing self-empowerment, increasing visibility, and ending stigma, NHALTSAD puts long-term survivors on the AIDS agenda. Our goal is to empower survivors to find meaning and purpose amidst the rubble of lives so incredibly impacted by AIDS.

Visit NHALTSAD.org to learn more.

Help us spread the word about National HIV/AIDS Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day June 5 https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/8932-long-term-survivors-day-jun-5?locale=en

AIDS Survivors Summit San Francisco 2014 — AIDSSurvivorsSummit.org

In San Francsico in June 5, 2014 we are hosting the first AIDS Survivors Summit. Bringing together Bay Area organizations and individuals to begin optimizing the lives of survivors.

Learn more at AIDS Survivors Summit San Francisco 2014 — AIDSSurvivorsSummit.org

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Back to the Beginning Brave Video

By Tez Anderson 12 April 2014 AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS), Depression, Disability, Event, Grief, Health, History, HIV, Long-term Survivors, Mental Health, PTS - Post-Traumatic Stress, Resilience, Seniors, Survival No Comments

LOOKING BACK

Let’s Kick ASS has grown tremendously since our first town hall THE DEFINITION OF BRAVE. We thought it would be good to repost the video from that town hall. It is a about two hours but well worth it.

 

LetsKickAss.org presents Definition of Brave Town Hall for Long-Term Survivors from Let’s Kick (ASS) on Vimeo.

Living and Thriving After Treatment for Anal Cancer Forum

By Tez Anderson 8 April 2014 Long-term Survivors No Comments

JOIN 
UCSF HELEN DILLER FAMILY COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER AND
THE HPV AND ANAL CANCER FOUNDATION FOR AN EDUCATIONAL FORUM ON

Living and Thriving After Treatment for Anal Cancer Addressing Long-Term Treatment Side Effects

Date:             Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Time:            6:30pm-8:30 PM

Location:    2340 Sutter Street, UCSF Mount Zion Campus

Lurie Conference Room (1st Floor)

Please RSVP to (646) 593-7739 or info@analcancerfoundation.org

A panel of experts and patients will discuss side effects often experienced by individuals treated for anal cancer. Panelists will address the short and long-term quality of life effects of chemotherapy and radiation and management of these side effects. Speakers include:

Joel Palefsky, MD Anal Neoplasia Clinic UCSF

President, International Anal Neoplasia Society

Katherine Van Loon, MD Medical Oncologist, UCSF

Allison Palandrani, DPT
Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation Center

Justine Almada Executive Director, HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation

Albert Chang, MD Radiation Oncologist, UCSF

Michael Berry, MD Anal Neoplasia Clinic, UCSF

Lurie Conference Room (1st Floor)

Co-sponsored by the UCSF Alliance Health Project, Project Inform, Shanti

A Survivor Story

By Tez Anderson 16 March 2014 AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS) No Comments

GAY, GREY AND POZ

LGBT seniors still face stigma

LGBT seniors share the challenges of being gay and grey this week on CBC Radio’s On The Coast:

Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender seniors were part of a generation of trailblazers who changed laws and the way society treats LGBT people.

Now, they’re embarking on the next stage of life — old age — and finding that it’s got challenges of its own.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/lgbt-seniors-still-face-stigma-1.2567105

Also in the same series:

Gay and Grey: HIV patients beat the odds

http://www.cbc.ca/onthecoast/2014/03/13/gay-and-grey-hiv-patients-beat-the-odds/

 

Let’s Kick ASS is the lead sponsor for National HIV/AIDS Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day. Save the date!

Let’s Kick ASS In The News!

By Tez Anderson 5 March 2014 Action, Aging, AIDS, AIDS Elders, AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS), Anxiety Disorders, Awareness Day, Depression, Health, History, HIV, Long-term Survivors, Mental Health, Survival No Comments

Joaquin Palomino wrote a wonderful piece in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Staying Alive is about long-term survivors and explains what ASS is. You should read it.

Here’s an excerpt:

Like Anderson, many AIDS survivors suffer emotional ailments akin to post-traumatic stress disorder or survivor’s guilt. Walt Odets, a Berkeley-based psychologist who has worked with hundreds of gay men who lived through the AIDS epidemic, is convinced that a mental health crisis is unfolding among long-term HIV survivors.

“There’s an inability to live with vitality, to live with richness, to get up in the morning and feel like you have a future, if only for the day,” he told us. “We’re losing a lot of vital lives over this.”

Anderson believes that many AIDS survivors have a definable psychological syndrome. Last January he decided to give it a name: AIDS Survivor Syndrome, or ASS for short (the acronym was intentional). He and two friends, Michael Siever and Matt Sharp, have since formed the group Let’s Kick ASS.

http://www.sfbg.com/2014/03/04/staying-alive?page=0,0

Aljazeera America recently covered ASS. Read it here:

Living with the demons of AIDS survivor syndrome

Many of the survivors at the Let’s Kick ASS event, it seems, made a kind of existential decision to fight for their lives through the epidemic. The AIDS epidemic also had an impact apart from the damage it caused. Though it meant death and suffering, it also allowed those enduring its effects to band together — to challenge their doctors and health policymakers on the kind of health care, or lack thereof, they were receiving.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/21/living-with-aidssurvivorssyndrome.html

Please like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AIDSSurvivorSyndrome

Follow Let’s Kick ASS on Twitter: @LetsKickASS_org

And check our events page often for the latest meetings schedule…and most important please join us for one of them! LetsKickASS.com/events

REMEMBER 

JUNE 5TH IS NATIONAL HIV/AIDS LONG-TERM SURVIVORS AWARENESS DAY #NHALTSAD—Website coming soon.

Please Check Our Online Survey too. You may win a $100 VISA GIFT CARD!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/letskickass

 

Please Take the Let’s Kick ASS Survey

By Tez Anderson 28 February 2014 AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS) No Comments

After six months Let’s Kick ASS wants to know how we are doing. If you have ever attended one of our events? Please take a moment to fill out our survey. You can enter our raffle to win a $100 VISA gift card for completing the survey!
Let’s Kick ASS is about YOU. And we want to know if we are serving you. AND THANK YOU!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Dreaming A New Future?

By Tez Anderson 27 February 2014 Aging, AIDS, AIDS Elders, AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS), Event, HIV, Long-term Survivors, Mental Health No Comments

Join us on March 19 for a groundbreaking interactive workshop about THE DISABILITY TRAP. We are bring in attorney John Fasesky from the ALRP to answer your questions about the transition from disability to retirement, because some of our group at in there sixties. Not know what is going to happen to your income when you go from disabled to retired is causing a lot of anxiety.

Some of our cohort who have been on disability are wondering if they can work part time or return to full-time work and it it is worth it. What are the implications.

What about YOUR future? Bring your questions to this timely town hall on April 16, 2014 at the SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market St starting at 7 PM.

THE DISABILITY TRAP

ALSO

Please read the new interview with Let’s Kick ASS’ Matt Sharp and Tez Anderson just published on BETA treatment news.

Dreaming A New Future: A Conversation with Long-Term Survivors

In this frank conversation—the first in a new BETA column for long-term survivors—Anderson and Sharp share their own experiences with AIDS survivor syndrome, tell why they have a bone to pick with champions of an “AIDS-free generation,” and share how kicking ASS is helping kick-start a new chapter in AIDS history.

http://betablog.org/dreaming-new-future-conversation-long-term-survivors/

Al Jazeera Covers AIDS Survivor Syndrome!

By Tez Anderson 21 February 2014 AIDS, AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS), Anxiety Disorders, Depression, Grief, Health, HIV, Long-term Survivors, Mental Health, Resilience, Spencer Cox No Comments

We are excited that a respected news outlet is shining a spotlight on the reality of ASS. Please read this;

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/21/living-with-aidssurvivorssyndrome.html

Huge advances in modern medicine have turned HIV from a condition that could seem like a death sentence to one that can be largely controlled by a hefty regime of medicines and careful treatment. But now many of those who lived through the worst years of the AIDS epidemic say the physical disease itself was not the only thing that caused harm. So too did the mental anguish left behind with those who watched their friends, lovers and family members die against a backdrop of a society that was often slow to care.

Does this sound like you? Please talk to your doctor about AIDS Survivor Syndrome.

Thank You Henry Waxman AIDS Hero!

By Tez Anderson 10 February 2014 AIDS, History, HIV No Comments

From the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic Rep. Henry Waxman has been a true hero and advocate for people with with HIV and AIDS. He has announced his retirement and he will be missed.

Here’s how much cared:

Waxman himself became nearly a board-certified specialist in immunology. The scientists often briefed him directly. He chaired hearings on incidence and prevalence, antibody tests, immune cells and anti-viral drugs. He met with people living with AIDS, even as others were calling for quarantine and wearing rubber gloves.

Read the entire Politico piece here: 

 

Now Forming Planning Team For National Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day

By Tez Anderson 9 February 2014 Action, Aging, AIDS, AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS), Awareness Day, HIV, Long-term Survivors, Mental Health, Press, PTS - Post-Traumatic Stress, Research, Resilience, Seniors, Sex, Social, Stigma, Survival No Comments
On the anniversary of the first announcement of AIDS by the CDC in 1981, Let’s Kick ASS is commemorating June 5th as National Long-Term HIV/AIDS Survivors Awareness Day. We need folks to help us organize and implement the first annual awareness day spotlighting long-term survivors.

Are you a long-term survivor looking for a project? Are you an experienced website developer? A social media/new media maven? An experience public relations/press person? Do you have any experience organizing an awareness day of any kind? Are you naturally organized? If so we need you YOU!

We have a host of issues and concerns that are not being addressed. We are not on the AIDS service organizations agendas, and LGBT rights groups have long-since forgotten AIDS is a gay issue. We want to change that by empowering long-term survivors. Long-term survivors are the elders of the AIDS epidemic and yet we are not given the attention elders deserve.

We are holding the first Awareness Day Planning Team meeting on Saturday 15 February at the Let’s Kick ASS office at 4111 18th Street (at Castro) from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Get in on the ground floor of our new project and meet other long-term survivors.

For more info email Tez@LetsKickASS.org.

In 2 Weeks Sean Strub at SF LGBT Center

By Tez Anderson 17 January 2014 AIDS Survivor Syndrome (ASS) No Comments

LetsKickASS.org presents “An Evening With Sean Strub” author of “Body Counts Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival” in conversation with Tez Anderson.

Followed by a book signing.

WHEN: Friday, January 31, 2014 6:30 PM

WHERE: San Francisco LGBT Center, Rainbow Room, 1800 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102

Please RSVP HERE: https://seanstrubbodycounts.eventbrite.com

Watch a book trailer here: https://vimeo.com/75181260

Sean Strub is a long-time activist and writer who has been HIV positive for more than 33 years. He is the founder of POZ Magazine and served as its publisher and executive editor from 1994 to 2004. He presently serves as the executive director of the Sero Project, a network of people with HIV fighting for freedom from stigma and injustice and as treasurer of the U.S. Caucus of PWHA Organizations. He is a recognized global leader in the effort to empower people with HIV to be meaningfully engaged in the response to the epidemic and in combating HIV-related stigma, discrimination and criminalization.

THIS EVENT IS FREE. Books for sale on site and at Books Inc.

BUY THE BOOK 

 

An Evening With Sean Strub

By Tez Anderson 30 December 2013 Aging, AIDS, Depression, Disability, Grief, Health, History, HIV, Long-term Survivors, Resilience, Social, Stigma No Comments

Coming in January!

LetsKickASS.org presents “An Evening With Sean Strub” author of “Body Counts Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival” in conversation with Tez Anderson. 
Followed by a book signing.

WHEN: Friday, January 31, 2014 6:30 PM

WHERE: San Francisco LGBT Center, Rainbow Room, 1800 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94102

Please RSVP HERE: https://seanstrubbodycounts.eventbrite.com

Watch a book trailer here: https://vimeo.com/75181260

Sean Strub is a long-time activist and writer who has been HIV positive for more than 33 years. He is the founder of POZ Magazine and served as its publisher and executive editor from 1994 to 2004. He presently serves as the executive director of the Sero Project, a network of people with HIV fighting for freedom from stigma and injustice and as treasurer of the U.S. Caucus of PWHA Organizations. He is a recognized global leader in the effort to empower people with HIV to be meaningfully engaged in the response to the epidemic and in combating HIV-related stigma, discrimination and criminalization.

THIS EVENT IS FREE. Books for sale on site and at Books Inc.

BUY THE BOOK  

A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival from Endless Echo on Vimeo.

 

A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival from Endless Echo on Vimeo.

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