Determined Robert Sapolsky tells about free will and how most do not have it!
One such subset are people with some forms of Epilepsy where during the attack or episode they are seen to be having no control or free will.
At least now they are treated as normal individuals but the history of Epilepsy is full of stigma and misconception.
Historically, epilepsy stigma stems from ignorance and fear, with seizures long misunderstood as demonic possession, divine punishment, or contagious disease, leading to intense social isolation and discrimination.
In many cultures, seizures were thought to be caused by spirits or demons. Ancient Romans sometimes believed the disease was contagious, leading them to refuse to eat from the same plate as someone with epilepsy! And this was all over the world!
Here also while some cultures viewed it as divine, others, associated it with evil spirits.
In the Middle Ages, the smell of burnt food or a patient’s breath was thought to transmit the condition!
In the 19th century, epilepsy was frequently mischaracterized as a “degenerate disease” or form of “madness,” causing people to be confined to asylums along with criminals!
Which is why patients or their caregivers used to hide the condition further hiding to mistrust when the disease becomes apparent.
Until the mid-20th century, many U.S. states prohibited people with epilepsy from marrying, and some states enacted eugenic sterilization laws!
Public facilities, including restaurants, could legally deny service to people with epilepsy until the 1970s!
With the advances in modern sciences, there has been good control and treatment of all forms of epilepsy.
All which is required is the removal of stigma which like most bad things takes time…
For now listen to some good things like a song sung by Sistla Janaki!
Subh ratri…
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