Albany Times Union, Thursday September 28, 2023
We want to thank the Times Union editorial board for sounding the alarm in the editorial “New York’s care crisis,” Sept. 10. The conclusion that the need is now and increasingly urgent is spot-on, but the editorial did not include the crisis in the developmental disabilities sector.
Save Our Services is a statewide group of family members and providers who advocate for increased funding to pay a living wage to direct-service professionals who support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Unfortunately, our pleas have, with a few limited exceptions, fallen on deaf ears.
Clarence Sundram, a nationally renowned expert on services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, described direct service professionals’ work: “One might summarize the job description as requiring the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job and the caring of Florence Nightingale.”
Yet direct-service professionals earn only a dollar or two above minimum wage. This was not always the case. In 2010, direct-service professionals’ starting pay was 50% above minimum wage.
Dramatic increases are needed to make up for a decade of neglect and stagnant wages. Additionally, while direct-service professionals employed by nonprofits provide 85% of services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, they earn substantially less than those employed by the state.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature must include a substantial investment in direct-service professional wages in the upcoming state budget and, equally important, a plan to bring their wages to a level commensurate with what is required of them.
Karen Nagy- Rexford
Margaret Raustiala–Nissequogue
Members, Save Our Services
ENYDDA 