Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.

Australian model and designer Madeline Stuart, who has Down syndrome, acknowledges attendees after presenting creations from her label 21 Reasons Why By Madeline Stuart during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan, New York, U.S., February 12, 2017. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Nikki Reed is seen shopping at American Rag in Los Angeles, CA., on May 14, 2014. (Photo by Bauergriffin.com)

Women wearing historical costumes walk past a tank before a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade, which marks the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Saint Petersburg, Russia on April 28, 2022. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

A man bathes at a roadside in a market area after authorities in the capital ordered a weekend curfew, following the rise in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases, in the old quarters of Delhi, India, January 8, 2022. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A woman dressing the traditional clothes of a “cholita”, skates during a skate festival on September 30, 2020 in La Paz, Bolivia. According to the Johns Hopkins University Resource Center, Bolivia has over 130,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and more than 7,500 deceases. (Photo by Gaston Brito/Getty Images)

A voter wearing protective face mask shows off her finger marked with ink indicating she voted as she leaves a polling station Sunday, November 8, 2020, in Yangon, Myanmar. Voting was underway in Myanmar’s elections on Sunday, with the party of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi heavily favored to retain power it had wrestled from the powerful military five years ago. (Photo by Thein Zaw/AP Photo)

A diver dressed as “Mermaid of the Serpent Depths” performs in front of a sign marking the Lunar New Year of the Snake inside an aquarium at Manila Ocean Park on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Jam Sta Rosa/AFP Photo)