Your Opinion: Developmentally disabled face crucial issues

Erika Leonard

Executive Director, Missouri Association of Rehabilitation Facilities

Jefferson City

Dear Editor:

A recent story published by the News Tribune showed that Missouri's disability services have risen to be among nation's best. However, this article fails to disclose crucial issues people with developmental disabilities continue to face.

The change in Missouri's ranking for disability services from one of the worst in the country to one of the best, is due in large part to high-quality services offered by our not-for-profit, community-based organizations. The same organizations experiencing a national Direct Support Professional (DSP) workforce crisis. A DSP assists a person with a disability to perform functional day-to-day tasks like taking medications, getting dressed and exercising. Most importantly a DSP teaches people with disabilities new skills such as job skills, paying bills and grocery shopping. A DSP is the lifeline for people with disabilities. Without these services many people with disabilities would be warehoused in large institutions.

The average wage for Missouri's 15,000 DSPs is only $9.71 an hour. One out of four DSPs live below the poverty line with fully half of them receiving public assistance. The community based organizations' ability to pay competitive wages to DSPs is hindered by reimbursement rates from the state that are up to 40 percent below market. These numbers begin to explain Missouri's dismal 25 percent DSP job vacancy rate, 50 percent annual turnover rate, and millions of dollars in overtime payments.

We applaud Gov. Mike Parson's acknowledgement that our services are in critical need of increased funding. While his proposed budget allocates an additional $12 million, this is only a fraction of what is needed for Missouri providers to retain and recruit the people necessary to provide these services.

We call upon our elected officials to allocate $76.5 million in General Revenue dollars in the Department of Mental Health Budget, and to include a 3 percent cost-of-living increase in order to keep pace with the recent increases in minimum wage. This funding will secure competitive pay increases for the workforce that provides essential services to more than 7,500 people with developmental disabilities.

As community based organizations providing critical safety net services for people with disabilities, our mission remains clear: Provide the highest-quality services for adults with developmental disabilities.

Please help us ensure we can continue our critical work.