A resolution designating the week beginning September 7, 2025, as "National Direct Support Professionals Week".
This Senate resolution designates the week beginning September 7, 2025, as “National Direct Support Professionals Week.” It highlights the essential role of direct care workers—often called direct support professionals, personal assistants, personal attendants, in-home support workers, and paraprofessionals—in delivering publicly funded, long-term supports for millions of individuals with disabilities. The resolution outlines the breadth of DSP duties, notes a national shortage of these workers, and emphasizes that many face low wages and limited opportunities for advancement. It also calls for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to consider creating a separate Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code for direct support professionals as a healthcare support occupation, and it situates DSP work within the broader context of community-based, person-centered disability services as upheld by Olmstead v. L.C. The resolution is symbolic and ceremonial; it designates a week and recognizes contributions, without creating new programs or funding.
Key Points
- 1Designates the week beginning September 7, 2025, as “National Direct Support Professionals Week.”
- 2Recognizes direct support professionals as vital to providing long-term, community-based support for individuals with disabilities and ensuring inclusion, independence, and dignity.
- 3Describes the core duties of DSPs, including person-centered support, personal care, daily living assistance, transportation, community access, and helping with transitions to community living.
- 4Acknowledges a critical nationwide shortage of direct support professionals and notes that the workforce has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic; highlights issues of low wages, limited benefits, and limited advancement opportunities.
- 5Calls on the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to consider establishing a separate SOC code for direct support professionals as a healthcare support occupation during the SOC revision, to improve federal data collection and workforce tracking.
- 6Emphasizes that the effective design and implementation of disability-related public policies depend on the dedication of DSPs, reinforcing the connection to community-based services affirmed in Olmstead v. L.C.