01679nas a2200289   4500000000100000008004100001260007500042653002300117653000900140653002600149653002600175653001100201653001900212653001200231653002000243653002000263653002600283653002100309653001800330653001300348100001700361245011000378300001000488490000700498520087000505022001401375       2011                            d  c2011bAustralian Society for the History of MedicineaWest Leederville10aAttitude to Health10aFiji10aHistory, 19th Century10aHistory, 20th Century10aHumans10aLeper Colonies10aleprosy10aPacific Islands10aQuality of Life10aReligion and Medicine10aSocial Isolation10aSocial stigma10aSulfones1 aBuckingham J00aThe inclusivity of exclusion: isolation and community among leprosy-affected people in the South Pacific.  a65-830 v133 a<p>From 1911 to 1969 those people diagnosed with leprosy in the South Pacific were gradually isolated and received medical treatment at the Central Lepers' Hospital, Makogai Island, Fiji. Until the discovery of sulfones in the 1940s leprosy was largely incurable and it was expected that those who went to the island would never return. This paper assumes that the stigma attendant on leprosy which provoked the isolation order is itself a form of disability. The paper draws on patients'stories to explore their individual and collective experience of isolation and suggests that for many, collective isolation on Makogai was an enabling experience. On Makogai, leprosy was the 'norm', the social disability of stigma was removed and people were able to be self-sufficient, to build community and social relationships and to live a fairly ordinary island life.</p>  a1442-1771