Direct Support Professionals in the Limelight

Many of you are out of town right now, but those who are not may have heard or read one of these news items concerning the DSP Academy, hosted by RCM of Washington (https://rcmofwashington.com/) and funded by DDS (https://dds.dc.gov/):

https://wamu.org/story/19/08/23/amid-a-caregiver-shortage-people-with-disabilities-are-filling-the-gap-in-d-c/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/08/21/this-novel-dc-academy-trains-people-with-disabilities-provide-paid-support-others-living-with-disabilities/

This is an exciting new initiative that has potential both to expand the local pool of direct support professionals (DSPs) and to offer more employment options to people with disabilities.  It’s a great program that hopefully will expand in future. 

Also noteworthy in this regard is UDC’s addition of a DSP career pathway to their workforce curriculum:

https://www.udc.edu/cc/workforce-development/career-pathways/healthcare/.

These are welcome new developments on the DSP front locally, although the shortage of DSPs here and around the country continues to be acute.  When I attended the meeting of the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) in July, we viewed an important film called “Invaluable” addressing the essential and demanding role played by DSPs nationwide – you’ll find a short clip from this film here:  http://www.supportedliving.com/page-1646896, but I hope we can arrange for a local viewing of the entire film before long.

You’ll recall that there was a hearing in the D.C. Council back in June to discuss pending legislation concerning compensation for DSPs in D.C.  I discussed that hearing in this blog post:  https://www.ddinwdc.com/2019/06/a-fair-deal-for-direct-support.html.  I haven’t heard much about the legislation since that time, but I hope that will change when the council (https://dccouncil.us/) returns from its recess in mid-September.