Everything is a social construct.

Thank You For The Venom // My Chemical Romance

So give me all your poison

And give me all your pills

And give me all your hopeless hearts

Nora Baladerian and Karyn Harvey are both psychologists with an unusual specialty — they are among a small number of therapists who treat people with intellectual disabilities who have been the victims of sexual violence.

They’re friends, brought together by decades of shared experience. Baladerian, from Los Angeles, is a co-founder of the Disability and Abuse Project, which tracks violence against people with intellectual disabilities.

Harvey now works at The Arc Baltimore, a local chapter of the national advocacy group and service provider that assists people with intellectual disabilities.

A yearlong NPR investigation finds that people with intellectual disabilities suffer from some of the highest rates of sexual assault of any group. NPR obtained new numbers, from the U.S. Justice Department’s unpublished data, and those show that people with intellectual disabilities are sexually assaulted at rates at least seven times the rate for people without disabilities.

On a recent trip to Washington, Baladerian and Harvey sat down with NPR investigative correspondent Joseph Shapiro to talk about the stunning levels of sexual violence they see in their clients’ lives.

From The Frontlines Of A Sexual Assault Epidemic: Two Therapists Share Stories

my favorite is how meandering people are, even in the midst of a terrible emergency

they respond to “what is the emergency” with “well, the thing is, four weeks ago–”

and then he’s like “WHAT IS THE EMERGENCY RIGHT NOW”

and they’re like “so what happened this morning was, i said to my wife, i said–”

“WHAT IS CURRENTLY HAPPENING AT THIS MOMENT”

“oh i’m having a heart attack”

my second favorite is how specific he has to get sometimes

like, “what is your emergency?”

“i’m sitting in a pool of blood.”

“… is it… your blood?”

“yes i think so”

“do you know where it’s coming from?”

“probably the stab wound”

“have you been stabbed?”