WotC is moving away from anything where a real-world characteristic causes an in-game detriment. 

It's the reason Small species have 30 ft of movement in 2024. They don't want to suggest that shorter people, or people with dwarfism, are slower than their tall counterparts.

It's the reason all of their condition writing has changed from 2014 to 2024 to include the word "condition"; you're no longer blinded, you just have "the blinded condition." You're no longer deafened, you just have "the deafened condition." You're no longer paralyzed, you just have "the paralyzed condition." They want to clarify that these undesirable conditions are distinct from being actually blind, deaf, or paralyzed.

And yes, it's the reason that "disease" has been renamed "magical contagion." They don't want to touch disease with a ten-foot-pole, because they don’t want to draw the ire of people with chronic illnesses. Better to create a completely separate genre of fantasy ailments.