There is a disease that is completely curable. It is phenomenally hard to contract. If caught early, it has little to no effect on those who have been touched by it. Yet, mention of this disease fills people with more dread, with more gut-level loathing, than any other. The disease is leprosy. It is a condition that destroys lives.
I have been working on the front lines of the leprosy-elimination battle for 30 years now, and in that time I have seen it transformed from a frightening mystery to a mild condition less threatening than the common cold. What has not changed in that time is the degradation that our societies continue to heap on those affected by the disease.
A number of years ago, I visited an Indonesian leprosarium to examine the condition under which its residents lived. While there, I met an 85-year-old woman who had been living at the facility since she was 12. This woman was healthy and sprightly. This confused me, so I asked her, "You've been healed for a long time now; why don't you go home?"