Mary Ruth and Waisey Daigle, residents of the United States Public Health Service Hospital in Carville, Louisiana, were denied the right to vote until 1946, simply because they had leprosy.

 

“Our exclusion has been taken for granted in the cultures, religions and languages of society for generations.”

Arega Kassa Zelelew, Ethiopia

 

“I am a Brahmin.  When I got leprosy, I experienced untouchability for myself. I learned what it means to say to another human being, you are not fit for me to touch.   Now I know why Gandhiji worked for leprosy patients and for the removal of untouchability.   It was a battle for freedom.”  

Nirakar Sarangi, Gandhipalli leprosy village, Cuttack, as quoted in “The Patient, The Person” by Sanjiv Kakar and DANLEP