Ethnography Summary
Stephen Muldoon interviewed client of AIDS Ministries
Date: 3/7/17
Type: Interview
Location: Lafun
Team participants: Conducted interview over phone with group
User Characteristics:
Previously incarcerated individual with AIDS
Male, 30-40’s
Very sullen and depressed individual
What is this person’s biggest point of pain? Currently facing trouble finding a job and housing due to previous history. Medication for his AIDS is not supported by the government past prison and AIDS Ministries can only support past 2 months. He struggles most with what he is going to do wit his life.
Memorable quote from interview: “I’ve been stigmatized my whole life. It is what it is man. But with it [criminal record], I can’t get no job or no place to live. I feel like I have to live my life alone.”
Top 3 Learnings:
- Aids ministries and organizations alike only can provide medication and housing for a limited time; there are no permanent solutions.
- Different crimes can change the degree of which these people may live their lives
- The cause of the vicious cycle stems from the difficulty these people face with trying to leave it
Key Insight – (1) A support system can make it or break peoples lives that are afflicted by this disease and background (2) There is almost a systematic discrimination against these people to try and live better lives (3) There is almost an incentive to go back to prison as so much is taken away from these people