Once upon a time, Americans thought of sex trafficking as a tragedy that happened in other countries. When they did begin to recognize that it happens in our country, too, they assumed it was only happening in the shadiest areas of big cities.

Even with this increased awareness, Americans generally remain largely unaware of a population affected by sex trafficking at an alarming rate: people with intellectual disabilities.

Narrow the data to sex crimes and you find that children and youth with intellectual disabilities are at higher risk for sexual abuse and assault than their nondisabled peers. And now there is evidence that this paradigm extends to the world of sex trafficking as well. Dr. Joan A. Reid of the University of South Florida-St. Petersburg cites a study that revealed that, of 54 reviewed sex trafficking cases in Florida between 2007 and 2014, one-third of the cases involved girls with intellectual disabilities.

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