Earlier this year, my sister and I went to San Francisco’s marvelous art museum, the Palace of the Legion of Honor. We had a great time, but my sister lives with a chronic autoimmune disorder and can only stand and walk for so long. So after about an hour, we headed for the lounge area and made ourselves comfortable, until it became clear that we were not welcome in that space.

One of the symptoms of her condition is lung congestion, which leads to periodic bouts of coughing. One struck just as we sat down. To some of those near us, her spasms were clearly an affront. 

At first, it was just judgmental sidelong glances. Then a couple of people began to fidget as they glared, wordlessly signaling their exasperation. Finally, after my sister had been hacking away for three minutes or so, one man stood, stared, anger evident on his face, and stomped away. To be ill in public was disgraceful, an affront. 

We read the room and fled.

That one afternoon’s momentary shame soon faded, but the belief that to be sick is a personal failure has much broader consequences. When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. states that “it’s very, very difficult for measles to kill a healthy person” (misleading at best), what many people hear is that those who do suffer bad outcomes have themselves to........

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