Frontline Initiative DSPs and Technology

After more than ten years of hard work by volunteers, I am honored to be NADSP’s first Executive Director. I’m proud to represent NADSP and advance its mission. Here are some highlights of our recent work. 

We know health insurance is a major concern for many direct support professionals (DSPs) and for their employers. To help our members access health insurance, NADSP set up a preferred provider relationship with Irwin Siegel Agency, Inc. NADSP now offers a Limited Benefit Health Insurance Program for employees of NADSP member organizations. Irwin Siegel will work directly with organizations that want to offer this service.

We have been keeping in touch with members through regular E-Flashes. Look for news about DSPs and those we support in these email updates. We’ll share news about policies that affect you, accredited training programs, credentialing, apprenticeship, and state chapter activities.

We work with other national disability-related organizations that share our values. One new partnership is with the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities at the University of Delaware. NADSP is also a founding member of the Alliance for Full Participation (AFP). We will be part of the November 2011 AFP Employment Summit. The Summit will focus on making fully integrated employment a reality for all people with disabilities. 

We continue to partner with ANCOR and the National Advocacy Campaign. This June, NADSP’s annual meeting was held in Washington, DC, on June 7th, along with the ANCOR Conference and DSPs-to-DC, an annual advocacy event. 

NADSP members also conducted a Direct Support Workforce workshop on June 9th at the annual conference of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) in Saint Paul, Minnesota. 

NADSP remains committed to promoting the DSP Code of Ethics. We are working to advance our national DSP credential, and make it accessible for all DSPs. I hope you will join us as we grow and continue to “make a world of difference in people’s lives.”