Advocacy
Advocacy is an important competency for direct support professionals. This requires speaking up and taking action to create change that improves people’s lives. DSPs play an important role in advocating for and with the people they support on both individual and system levels.
Effective advocacy is key to influencing policymakers and lawmakers on significant issues. New York’s grassroots advocacy for intellectual and developmental disabilities is powerful because it is inclusive, participatory, and genuine, ensuring that all voices are heard.
A Complete Guide to Advocacy in New York State
This guide from the New York Alliance for Inclusion and Innovation provides helpful information on New York State government structures, contacts in the Executive and Legislative branches of government, key terminology, legislative and State Budget processes and procedures, how to communicate with legislators, and other information. The guide is intended to be a resource for people new to the advocacy world and a reference for those who have been successfully advocating for years.
A Standard Occupational Classification for Direct Support Professionals
As of June 2024, direct support professionals do not have a unique Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code at the federal level. This means that DSPs are often incorrectly placed into other SOCs that don’t capture the full range of their work activities. The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) is leading a nationwide effort to establish a SOC for DSPs.
Standard Occupational Classifications: Why Are They So Important?
In this article, NADSP president and CEO Joe Macbeth describes the SOC system and why this matters for the direct support workforce.