DSPs Using and Supporting Technology Use
NADSP Update: Direct Support Professionals and Systems Change Engagement
Joe Macbeth
As has been said many times before, the direct support workforce “crisis” is not new, but the COVID-19 pandemic certainly illuminated it. For decades, the intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) system has failed to address the challenges of recruiting, retaining, and developing a robust and competent direct support workforce.
The demographics of our workforce have remained unchanged for years. According to the most recent State of the Workforce Survey results from National Core Indicators, nearly 70% of direct support professionals (DSPs) are women, most of whom are women of color or from other minority communities. Despite tireless advocacy from the provider community, wages have remained stagnant, and employers struggle to compete with other industries that offer similar or better wages for jobs with far fewer responsibilities and lower expectations than we ask of our direct support professionals.
Every state negotiates direct support wages during budget cycles. During these negotiations, IDD community stakeholders routinely advocate for direct support wage increases, access to better and more affordable healthcare benefits, and cost-of-living adjustments. Year after year, we seem to practice the same advocacy approaches that yield little gain. At some point, we need to take corrective action.
Given the workforce demographics and long-term failures to address direct support wages, it can be argued that this has become a social justice issue. We know from history that all successful social justice movements have been led by the people at the center of impact, as they are the most powerful advocates for change.
By building an effective campaign with DSP advocates at its center, we will bring firsthand experience and personal narratives to the table, lending authenticity and credibility to system change efforts. The lived experiences of DSPs will carry weight in shaping public perception and influencing policymakers. They will foster empathy and connection among lawmakers and the broader public by humanizing our long-term workforce challenges. By sharing their stories and perspectives, DSPs will create emotional connections that motivate action and solidarity, and their untapped expertise will come from navigating the complexities of their experiences, making them invaluable resources for crafting effective system change strategies and solutions.
The IDD system needs direct support professionals to advocate for themselves. We’ve relied on others to do it for us for far too long with only marginal gains. Earlier this year, the NADSP hosted our third National Advocacy Symposium, where hundreds of DSPs from across the country met virtually with their Members of Congress. For the third year in a row, our highest policy priority was to advocate with legislators to support the bill requiring the Office of Management and Budget to consider direct support professionals a separate category within the Standard Occupational Classification system during their periodic review process.
I’m happy to share that our efforts helped push the Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act through the U.S. Senate, which should be passed by the House shortly. Beyond that, the Office of Management and Budget also opened public comments for new occupational classifications, and we estimate that more than 10,000 direct support professionals submitted comments. This is very promising, but only the beginning.
Creating a grassroots movement of direct support professional advocates will not be easy. The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals will take the lead in building this movement, but we can’t do it alone. It will take time, money, and long-term cooperation from stakeholders across the IDD system. I believe that direct support professionals can learn from the incredible successes of the self-advocacy movement: “There should be nothing about us without us.”
Please help us build it.
Joseph M. Macbeth
President and Chief Executive Officer
Reference
National Core Indicators Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. (2023). National Core Indicators Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities State of the Workforce in 2022 Survey Report.