November 2024

The cover of this issue of Frontline Initiative shows a photo of DSP Anthony Grindstaff and Larry, a person Grindstaff has supported since 2008, in Larry's home. Larry is typing on a screen attached to his wheelchair while Grindstaff looks on. The cover also contains the ICI wordmark and the logo of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP). ICI and NADSP co-publish Frontline Initiative.

Advances in technology are creating greater autonomy for people with disabilities, and also some challenges for the professionals supporting them.

The new issue of Frontline Initiative offers direct support professionals (DSPs) information about the latest digital tools that assist people with disabilities to live more independently and raises awareness about the digital divide leaving some of them behind.

“As part of a survey ICI conducted during and after the COVID-19 pandemic about technology usage, DSPs reported varied amounts of employer support for learning about and using technology. This issue highlights the important role DSPs play in making technology accessible so that people with disabilities can use it to live as independently as they want,” said Julie Kramme, co-editor of FI.

Articles in the issue emphasize the importance of employers being open to explore and learn about new technologies and making those technologies available to staff, Kramme said. Articles also discuss disparities and injustice in access to technology, including access to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

“This is a problem for all of us that never gets talked about,” author Bob Williams writes in his article. “Technology can help end the exclusion and isolation that silence imposes. But there is no substitute for people who listen and make a great effort to understand a person who most others ignore.”

Chet Tschetter, FI co-editor, writes a piece about how Black Hills Works created a new position called Remote Support Professional, which includes additional training for DSPs on technical aspects of remote support and on building relationships remotely with the people they support. These skills bring an exciting new dimension to the profession that potentially could attract new entrants to the field and help existing DSPs stay on the job longer, Tschetter said.

When people with disabilities have their own goals and wishes at the center of how support is provided, it can improve their quality of life, Kramme said.

“People who need supports don’t always need the level of supports that they have had imposed upon them. When they can use technology to supplement the in-person supports, they live better lives and have more of what they want,” she said.

In another article, DSP Anthony Grindstaff shares how technology has made a difference in the life of Larry, a person Grindstaff has supported since 2008.

“Thanks to technology, he now has much more freedom to do the things he wants when he wants to do them,” Grindstaff writes. “Access to enabling technology and learning to use it for some of his support needs has made a huge difference in helping Larry to have the life he wants.”

Anthony and Larry, along with Susan Arwood, executive director of Core Services of Northeast Tennessee, sat down with Tschetter for an episode of A Closer Look, the FI podcast.

“Susan is a big believer in all the possibilities technology has to offer,” Tschetter said. “She talked about the foundation of their organization being person-centered and how having that foundation to support people to dream their dreams can make the dream come true. DSPs are there from the ground up, being part of the planning and weaving person-centered strategies into the technology that is used to support individuals.”

Other articles offer resources on teaching safe technology skills so that technology isn’t elevating the risk of being taken advantage of, but rather supplementing relationships and helping people with disabilities to spot potential risks.

Technology will never replace relationships, Tschetter said, but it is already making a huge difference in real lives.

“Authors emphasize that balance between technology and support based on the person’s own needs and characteristics,” Kramme said. “Starting with what the person desires rather than imposing technology is so important, but at the same time, DSPs are in a wonderful position now to try some new things that can have remarkable results, so this issue really explores how to navigate that tension and balance the two.”