What is a Direct Support Professional?

Society labels some people as “disabled.” People with the disability label are people whose limitations are more apparent than those of the general population. Apparent limitations can be a result of a birth anomaly, traumatic injury, or an illness. Some may have limitations in their physical function, some in their emotional expression and reception, and others in

their processes of thought. A person with a physical limitation, cerebral palsy for example, may use a wheelchair for mobility or have inarticulate speech. A person with an emotional limitation, such as autism, may not understand humor or social cues. A person who lives with thought limitations presented by schizophrenia might perceive his or her surroundings differently than others.

Throughout history, society has had very limited reactions to people with disabilities. The most common reaction is to try to make the person “normal”, which is to force the person to function like ordinary people. Sometimes this is successful, as with injured service people being fitted with prosthetic arms and legs. Often, though, normalization attempts to force a person to treat their condition as a defect and reject their own personality.

When forcing a person to become normal does not work, society might attempt to create a special role for that person in the community.  One cliché is of the blind man selling pencils on a street corner, but other special roles persist today. People with intellectual disabilities are forced into menial jobs such as cleaning restrooms or washing dishes, while the people who put them in those positions pat themselves on the back for their work helping the disabled.  Specialization may be well-intentioned, but it does not allow people with disabilities to flourish and realize their own ambitions. In the worst case, specialization makes a spectacle of the individual, forcing them to be the butt of a joke.

If normalization and specialization do not work, society resorts to lifetime custodial care, forcing people with disabilities into institutions or kept homebound in isolation and dependence. Most aspects of the person’s life will be decided by other people who have no regard for individual abilities, desires or quality of life. Unfortunately, this system of custodial care is still maintained in almost every state in the USA. The custodial care system suffocates self-determination and does little more than maintain the existence of the person until their end of life.

Oftentimes there are no available caregivers or institution, and society is unable to normalize the individual or find a special role for the person.  In some societies, even today, these people are simply left alone to die.  

Over the last few decades, people with disabilities have become more visible and vocal, fighting for the right to live on their own terms. They do not want to be normalized, and they don’t want to be forced into menial tasks such as cleaning restrooms.  They refuse to have their lives dictated to them by so-called caregivers.  With assistance, people with disabilities can live full, productive, quality lives on their own terms, with complete inclusion in the community.
Everybody in the world faces tasks they are unable to complete on their own.  People hire landscapers, housekeepers, personal trainers, tax accountants, auto mechanics, and the list goes on endlessly. All people are dependent on support from others, and the support needs vary from person to person.  No individual is truly self-sufficient. 

The Direct Support Professional, or DSP, is a job created to fill the assistance needs of people with disabilities. A DSP is not a caregiver or caretaker, nor is a DSP a nurse or housekeeper. Although a DSP may perform nursing, housekeeping, or care giving tasks, the role of a DSP is more broad and less intrusive. A quality DSP provides functional support that allows people with apparent limitations to be vested in the community and be an integrated contributing member of society.
DSPs provide support to people who require assistance in daily tasks that they cannot complete by themselves. With quality support from a DSP, a person can further a career, attend college, or start and run a business. The DSP acts as an extension of the person being supported, and the two work as a team to complete routines and tasks desired by the person being supported.

Some of the routines are relatively mundane tasks, such as checkbook balancing or answering email. Many times, though, the required supports include very intimate tasks such as going to the bathroom, bathing or showering, shaving, tooth brushing, or changing adult briefs. This level of intimacy requires that the two personalities complement one another without awkwardness and without crossing professional barriers.

To provide a quality level of support, the direct support professional must completely believe in the person they are supporting.  This means that the supporter must assume the person they support is completely competent and capable of realizing positive outcomes. A quality support professional will not divide the people they serve by labels such as “low functioning” or “high functioning,” and will never underestimate the abilities of the person served. In fact, a quality DSP will believe the sky is the limit, and assist people served with reaching their potential to the fullest, and even beyond.

Quality direct supporters will not view the people served as clients, residents, or consumers. The DSP will view the people served as friends, neighbors, and fellow community members. Committed DSPs advocate to ensure people served gain their rightful place as vested members in the community. They help the people they serve by forging relationships, and by working constantly toward inclusion and away from exclusion, isolation, and discrimination. 
 
Viewing oneself as a manager or caretaker of the supported person will lead to a dominant vs submissive role. A domineering or leadership role in a supporter/supported relationship undermines the autonomy and freedom of the person being served, and should be avoided at all costs. Quality supporters view themselves as allies and equals of the people served. Too often, people with disabilities are told what to do and when to do it. Many of the people we serve are already forced to live under overbearing individual service plans and bureaucratic agency rules. If we assume competence, then the people we serve will live with autonomy.