Direct Support Professionals constitute a workforce that plays an important role in the care, health delivery, and quality of life of millions of people in America. They represent those who do the essential of the job functions in human service organisations, especially among the developmentally disabled population, nursing homes, day treatment programs, and state institutions. Yet, their recognition remains muted, their pay stagnant; and it appears that they suffer different forms of stigma due, I dare believe, to the fact that the issue of disability and people with disability have not received the type of attention and respect they ought to have had. At some point or another every one needs assistance, no matter how rich, powerful, educated and healthy one might be. And direct care workers will always be needed. Direct care professions are very important but they seem to be faced with various forms of resistance. A survey of many direct care workers revealed that across the board compensations, career advancement and stability take a beating when referring to this segment of our population.
No amount of wealth and knowledge, or title is sufficient enough not to need someone else's support, help or assistance. At the same time no amount of personal achievement ought to be big enough not to lend support, give assistance or pay attention to the less fortunate. There needs to be a profound transformation within the direct care environment in order for people whose career is to provide support to other human beings to have decent wages and benefits, great recognition and career advancement.
Social change and transformation do not happen overnight and never smoothly. Without any doubt, there will always be resistance. Resistance is due to the fear of the unknown. It is due to a sense of comfort. But it is also due to ignorance. However, with education, true believers and visionaries in social change do not set any deadline while pursuing their ultimate change goals or objectives. They are not unrealistic either. They know they will face difficulties, opposition, rejection, disappointments and setbacks but they always press on. If they do not live to see the results of their fight, so be it, others will.
So, as social and human service workers, we must be fully engaged in our mission even though we may not see the complete fulfillment of our vision. To be clear, visionaries do not initiate a process and expect to see or live what they have their sight on. It is always for tomorrow, for future generations to continue, perfect the work, and reap the fruit of their labor.
Even as we get frustrated daily by the reactions or ignorance of the public to the field in general and to direct care positions in particular, we are partaking in the larger welfare system that is in place to bring about security, equal access to opportunities, and happiness for all.
Being fully engaged requires learning and requires relentless practice again and again. It requires patience and courage, yes courage because of all the setbacks, frustrations and difficult moments; but most importantly, however, it is our profound understanding of why we are doing what we are doing that will hold our head high, keep us together, and propel us forward as we envision a better world for our fellow human beings and for us all. It is central to everything that we do.
At some point or another, in one's lifetime, one will need some type of help. As human beings we are interconnected, interdependent and related by a moral contract. We are related by time, need and space.
Direct Support Professionals are those who, by virtue of their training, character and disposition, become necessary when a person has some type of disability or impairment and needs help. And they are there to ensure the needs of a person with disability are met. It is a profession that requires strong ethics, qualifications and dispositions, be they physical or mental. Direct Support Professionals represent more than a business force for an organization, they assist and get paid. They represent more than a physical or gender entity, a man or woman there to help. They become a valuable emotional strength for the disabled.
They become a disabled person's only solace and relief. They become family or the family a disabled person wishes to have had. Direct Support Professionals become a disabled person's protector, advocate and defender. He or she becomes the disabled person's voice, ears and eyes. In short, direct care workers represent the disabled person's interest at all times and all circumstances. Hopefully, understanding the value and importance of the direct care position will change how it is viewed not only by the public, government officials and politicians but also and more importantly by direct care workers themselves, their managers and other professionals in the human services field.
Hopefully more support will be given to human service organizations, their direct care workers who do the essential of the work, and as a result direct care workers will see their job and position in a different angle and will be proud of what they are accomplishing. It is the wish of every human service professional that the threats of constant budget cuts cease to hover over their valuable organizations whose revolutionary missions and visions are moving our society, nation and indeed the world to a completely different level of understanding and treating people with disabilities with dignity, respect and fairness.
Direct care workers or direct support professionals provide various types of services and support to individuals with disabilities, to the elderly, the sick, to our servicemen who protect us and some of whom returning home with certain disabilities, to retired doctors and lawyers. So, they occupy and play an important role in the care, stability and overall health of our society. The work of a direct care is very intense in terms of daily responsibilities and it can be extremely draining, physically and mentally. For instance, there are sites in human service organizations that function with the bare minimum of staff, dealing with behaviors from their individuals all the while keeping in mind the expectations of the agency.
In human service organizations, nursing homes, and social services much of what causes stress, neglect and abuse, poor performance and eventually a high turnover rate, is directly the result of overworked, underpaid, inadequately trained staff, and paradoxically, some and I repeat some poor management and supervisory styles and practices which go unchallenged and not reported to the executive team until and unless things go dangerously and publicly wrong and embarrassing. Obviously, in addition to the above, the rules and regulations added every year stifle and sap the environment causing unnecessary burden, fear and stress. Sadly, it is often those who have never worked, been associated and never directly dealt with people with disabilities who want to speak of the directions human service organizations have to take.
The field of disability, even with all the intellectual, medical and technological advances, is still victim of our collective silence and inaction to embrace it fully. Even though some of us have better human, professional and emotional dispositions to care for others, there seems to be a conscious laziness to try to learn more about the issue until it concerns us personally or someone very close to us gets affected. First and foremost, the regular budget cuts that government agencies subject human services to are here to highlight the point I am making. Everything, from new regulations to organizations' fiscal policies, what follow is the direct result of those budget cuts.
In the human services field, direct care staff get trained to administer medications, observe and assess their individuals, evaluate and make certain recommendations etc. In the process, they acquire a wide array of knowledge and skills, gather valuable information and get educated on health delivery, health administration and processes. They learn about medical and pharmaceutical issues that they take with them and pass on to their families and communities etc. Direct care staffs are taught to recognize signs of medical emergencies and to take actions in case of those emergencies by contacting their nurses or other medical professionals. When they transport their individuals to medical facilities they communicate with the medical staff of those facilities, hospitals or clinics. They provide various types of assistance such as behavior management in some cases, medical and social information in other cases that, often, doctors don't have or know. The paradox is the direct care staff sometimes is treated with condescension even as he or she provides assistance and gives valuable information to doctors, nurses and other professionals.
The work of a direct care staff is valuable beyond words. It is not limited to the basic daily functions performed at a residence or out in a community. It is multidisciplinary.
Yes, it is multidisciplinary in nature because it involves various areas: medical and health, diet and nutrition; educational and administrative, behavioral and psychological, recreational and social, it is financial and accounting etc. And we must be fully educated or trained in those areas as we will be put to the test every day and every time these areas involve our individuals.
It requires a high level of deep understanding without which those in the position will eventually suffer burnout, discouragement and devaluing what they do.
If we do not have the core understanding of our mission, our duties and responsibilities, then, we will fail in their fulfillment. We will fail our community; we will fail and betray our social contract. We all have a contract towards one another, if only a moral one. We have the obligation to assist, support and protect our fellow human beings but especially the most vulnerable, the elderly, the weak and the marginalized.
Throughout history there have been individuals, groups and institutions that have dared to challenge the resistance to positive change; whether for racial and religious, national equality or gender and social justice. How many times have we witnessed people of different races, professional backgrounds, and status, experiences and interest join hand in hand to denounce injustice, mistreatment and wrong?
The same applies to the field of disabilities. Courageous men and women, young and old, all races and cultures combined are working tirelessly every day to bring about positive and long lasting changes we so desperately need in removing the barriers that have held, for so long, a segment of our population, a group or a class of people.
As direct care staff in the human services, our mission is not limited to simply providing care. It includes participating in the larger public and social policies, in a welfare system whose primary goal is to provide security of all kinds for its citizens. We are partaking in creating an environment of human decency through our daily help, however minimal and modest it may seem. We have a workload that is overwhelming but we have a mission that is possible if we arm ourselves with the tools to succinctly explain what we are doing and why we are doing it, if we accept to train and educate ourselves on a variety of issues that are essential for our own good.
Direct care workers have the obligation to educate their communities, educate the public but more importantly educate and prepare themselves as well. How can we not when we have so much at stake?
We need to have strong intellectual and educational tools. By intellectual, I mean the sum of knowledge about the issues: knowing ourselves, our individuals, their history or backgrounds, their needs and conditions, our rules and regulations, our processes etc. in order to perform with the highest quality of professionalism, aiming for the most accurate and tangible outcomes.
In order to change how the public views the issues of disability and the importance of direct care work, we have to believe in what we are doing, and everything else will proceed easily from that belief.
Because it involves human beings, their values, emotions and what they have learnt or acquired over time, it is not going to be a one time exercise, nor is it going to be an easy and quick task. It is a continuous process that involves multiple various stages of learning and doing.
When it comes to our individuals not only does it involve learning to familiarize ourselves with their conditions, what may have been at the root of it all, accepting them and knowing that we must make every effort to keep our moral, intellectual and professional promise to them. Those efforts are essential to moving closer to the fulfillment of our mission. At the same time they involve helping people understand and work on preventing those cases of disabilities whenever possible.
It requires sacrifice. Yes, sacrifice. We all are sacrificial lambs for one another. Look around you and ask yourself whose effort, however small, contributed to making you who and where you are today.
Nothing in human history was achieved overnight. Every human endeavor and accomplishment went through stages of trials, errors and more sacrifice. In the end, it is those who stood strong, determined and educated who succeeded. Direct care workers are no different. They have to spare no effort to that end. They have to know the individuals they are working with. Only then will they truly appreciate their organization's mission and all the duties that come along with it. And only then will they appreciate their line of work and sacrifice.
If we look around, someone has sacrificed something to make us who and what we are today, who and what we shall be tomorrow. Whether it is our family or teachers, doctors or coaches, friends, neighbors or total strangers all have contributed to where we are today. Therefore, we must be willing to sacrifice our time, our resources and to do the same for those who are less fortunate to make it on their own. We will have impacted someone else's life in a positive way while impacting our own lives in ways that we have never imagined. We will have contributed to history. Everyone has to be part of it. Our time will come and go. Others' time will come and go. This is how mankind has functioned for years and generations. Whether we know it or not we will have participated, however minimally, in maintaining, improving and advancing mankind. Let us not belittle what we are doing. Let us not minimize our effort and sacrifice. It is our obligation to continue our work, improve and perfect it. It is our role to educate ourselves, others and the public.
Educating the public takes a long time, it requires explaining again and again. It involves strong advocacy. Direct care work, often not recognized, is demanding, overwhelming, and many times over, very frustrating. Yet, it is very rewarding. Direct care workers sacrifice time, effort and intellect to ensure the millions of people affected by disability have a sense of normalcy that many of us take for granted.
There is nothing to be ashamed of but much to be proud of. It is our mission to re-educate our families, friends, and communities on the importance and value of our work. What matters in the end, is a meaningful and productive life that we try to provide for our individuals. If we were in their shoes, imagine how we would be feeling. It is not the condition that they had hoped for and wished for themselves. It is not what their families have envisioned for them.
And, what good are one's education and training if they do not open the public eye and do not stir consciousness on the most central of human decency, helping another human being live a safe and productive life, to enjoy life and satisfy one's basic needs?
We are giving meaning to someone else's life. It equals participating in building and reinforcing the various social policies in place. We are participating in strengthening our social welfare system.
Often we hear politicians; officials in our various government agencies talk about public policies, social policies and so on and so forth. They may formulate those policies but in practice they are not necessarily the ones who implement those policies. It is people like us: direct care staff, nurses, trainers, police officers, firefighters, and others who implement those policies for the good of our communities and nation.
Throughout the country there are hundreds of human service organizations operating in the developmentally disabled population. Their main workforce are the thousands of Direct Support Professionals who provide various services ranging from medication administrations, behavior management, nutrition, community integration, and skills acquisition etc. Their roles in the health of our communities are of paramount importance. Therefore, it is high time this segment of the professional world be given much credit, respect, and recognition.
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