Workers With The Developmentally Disabled To Rally For Higher Pay

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — More than 300 people are expected at a rally Friday calling on New York State to permit and support higher wages for staffers who care for people with developmental disabilities.

The rally will be held at Letchworth Village in Stony Point.

Wages in New York for those staffers, known as direct support professionals or DSPs, have been so low for so long that many have left the profession because they cannot feed their families — and now state agencies and non-profits such as Jawonio in Rockland County are suffering from a staffing shortage that has reached crisis levels.

"Nobody can find staff based on these wages," Jawonio CEO Randi Rios-Castro told Patch. "The wait lists continue to grow. There are people who have been waiting for residential placement for a long time. Probably more than 5,000 in New York. We had 50 people on our waiting list for our day program and we stopped staking names because there was no chance of serving them."

The problem, she said, is that for 10 years there were no cost of living adjustments in the funds the state allocates to agencies that work with state residents who are developmentally disabled.

"We weren’t able to keep pace with salaries for staff," she said.

This year an adjustment has been proposed, but just 1.5 percent. The consumer price index has risen 3.2 percent.

"It's been years of neglect and now not keeping pace," Rios-Castro said. "It means that programs close. New programs can’t open. The programs that do exist, the staffs are working multiple shifts. If we can’t bring in workers, we can’t staff the programs that we have. Even the state-run programs, they’ve consolidated or closed."

According to the living wage calculator, a single adult in Rockland would need to earn $32.66 an hour. The starting wage at Jawonio is $16.10. The average wage for DSPs across the state is $17 an hour, she said. "Walmart, Target they’re all paying between $18-20 an hour for far less taxing work. Not lifting someone bathing them, feeding them, providing life sustaining treatment."

It's a national problem, she said. A recent survey of DSPs found that 85 percent love what they do but can’t make a living at it. It disproportionately affects minorities and women, who are the people in these direct support roles.

"These are frightening statistics," she said. "People are out there working hard to make a living doing jobs that are not easy, they are not always appreciated, and they can’t support their families."