World Aids Day: HIV - no barrier to learning Wednesday, December 1, 2010 - 11:58

As part of World Aids Day, NIACE is highlighting the role that learning can play to help people living with HIV rebuild their lives. There is no better example of what can be achieved than the inspirational story of Danny West, an Adult Learners' Week Award winner from 2009.

Danny West, from Lewisham in London was, in 1985, one of the first people in the UK to be diagnosed with HIV. However, 25 years later he is a successful businessman running his own, training, coaching and leadership consultancy.

After Danny left school he trained as a social worker but only a year after qualifying he was diagnosed with having HIV and was given just 18 months to live.

"I'd never considered death at the age of 24 and my life was at its beginning as far as I was concerned so it was devastating and mind-blowing and it took me quite a while to come to terms with that."

Following his diagnosis Danny spent a number of years working in the new and evolving UK HIV charities - such as London Lighthouse and Body Positive. However, he was forced to give up work and lived on benefits for 14 years.

"The learning has never stopped. I started learning, really learning from the point I was diagnosed. I had to learn a lot of stuff - a lot of human stuff - about life and death and about myself, consistently along the way in order to be able to adjust to this and come to terms with it. When I was on benefits for 14 years I trained to be a florist."

It was through improved medical treatments that Danny could really devote the commitment needed to fulfill his ambition four years ago. He has done a huge amount of learning. He has trained as a life coach (with the Coaching Academy), learnt how to start and run his own training and coaching business (with help from an ESF-funded project) and completed a management qualification with the Chartered Management Institute.

Danny now operates a successful training, coaching and leadership consultancy, working throughout the UK and Europe delivering training, leadership consultancy and coaching. Danny primarily works with disabled people, people with long term health conditions and HIV, and the organisations that support them. He is Vice-Chair of National Long Term Survivors Group, a national user-led support organisation for those with living with HIV.

"I've always enjoyed going to college and learning new things. I've always wanted to train as a coach. I've always engaged in the learning as a way of increasing my skills, my knowledge and my ability to do the work that I'm passionate about doing in the world and I'm particularly passionate about the process of coaching and enabling people to achieve their goals and I'm able to apply that to people with HIV, disabled people and people living with long-term health conditions."

"It's been an amazing journey. I've had an amazing life. I've enjoyed all the learning along the way and I haven't stopped and I never will."

"In many ways I've had the life of my dreams, I've done things, had things, experienced things that most people only ever dream about because I've made them happen."