By Rita Quashie-Smith and Brooke Urda, direct support professionals (DSP) with Emmaus Community of Pittsburgh  

We support people in the intellectual disability/autism (ID/A) community. Many of them have been abused and experienced trauma that most of us cannot imagine. Sometimes they’ve lost parents or have been victims of horrendous crimes. Their experiences have resulted in severe trauma-induced behaviors.   

Right now, the current PA budget doesn’t include enough funding to adequately maintain the DSP population in the Commonwealth. That means these vulnerable people will not get the supports they so desperately need and deserve.  

As DSPs, we are trained and educated as trauma-informed professionals. We know how to re-direct and provide specific care for our clients so they can work through these incidents and survive, literally. One woman I work with had a medical procedure, her family members had to leave to take care of another family member, and when she woke up no one she knew was with her. When we got back to her home, she was trembling and broke down completely. She said, “Miss Rita, I was so scared. I woke up and no one I knew was there.” Rita – the woman’s DSP – was the only one the woman trusted to help her through that experience.   

We do not get the support or pay we earn and deserve. We provide nursing assistance, we are often our clients’ only friends and family, and our work is physically and mentally demanding. These people just want to live in their homes and be part of their community. We MUST find a way to support DSPs so they can afford to do this job and help create a meaningful life for all Pennsylvanians!  

DSPs deserve to be valued and appreciated. We make sacrifices. We have relationships with the people we serve; their families are aging and someone needs to let the family feel confident that their loved ones are in a good, safe place. We have seen so many colleagues leave this professional because they just couldn’t afford it any longer. It’s heartbreaking and infuriating.  

To all policy-makers, we say … Provide a living for the DSPs who are making this happen for these Pennsylvanians and their families. We need a livable wage. We invite you to come see what we do. Unless you are in the actual environment, it’s hard to comprehend what we do. Watch the three-hour process to get our clients ready just to go outside. Experience their extreme behavioral responses to typical life incidences. Maybe then you’d understand why we need to be paid more appropriately.  

Says Rita, “I want the best for the people I support. If you care about something other than yourself, you want to do good. That’s why I earned my degree in social work and why I’m a DSP. It’s not just because of the impact I’ve made on others but also that they’ve made on me. Relationships are the most important thing we have in this life.”  

Brooke adds, “What we do is rewarding. We maintain relationships with the people we support. We call them clients, but sometimes we are their only friends and even family. We have are the people who provide consistency, stability in their lives. Every human being deserves that.”