We want to speak directly to you about the concern and confusion many are feeling right now. We wish to clarify the role of the (MIDSEC) and to ask for your continued advocacy in response to the Department of Disabilities Administration’s (DDA) proposed budget reductions.
SDAN was just one of the 22 members of the MIDSEC. Many members share the deep concern being expressed across the community. You might see this message in some form from other MIDSEC members as well. Members of the MIDSEC were not given the opportunity to review or weigh in on the recent summary of MIDSEC discussions distributed by DDA.
To ensure there is no misunderstanding of what the MIDSEC is and is not, we wish to clarify the following:
- MIDSEC did not support the recent cost savings measures suggested by DDA
- MIDSEC does not have the authority to make decisions for DDA
- MIDSEC did not agree on any of the recommendations put forward thus far, or any included in the Table of short-, mid-, and long-term recommendations
- MIDSEC has not been privy to every suggestion put forward by the community
Rather:
- MIDSEC considered dozens of suggestions by DDA in an exploratory manner
- MIDSEC members have uniformly expressed concern that any recommendation put forward carefully consider the impact on participants
We understand why the summary caused alarm. Many of us are living the consequences of these decisions every day—as self-advocates, family members, and Direct Support Professionals. It is important to be clear that any decisions related to the proposed budget reductions rest solely with DDA.
For that reason, SDAN is asking you to continue raising your voice. We urge individuals, families, and allies to advocate against the proposed DDA budget cuts. These reductions threaten workforce stability, participant choice, and the continuity of critical supports. This budget should not move forward as proposed, and we are asking policymakers to pause, listen, and work with the community to find solutions that do not further harm people with disabilities and their families.
During a December meeting, DDA asked members to submit our “do not touch” list. With full transparency we are sharing with you the following SDAN submission:
MIDSEC – 12/15/2025
SDAN agrees with DDA and the community providers that DSP’s are the backbone of the service delivery and deserve to earn a living wage.
Policy Priorities for people who self-direct are as follows:
1. DSP Wages Must Be Preserved in Self-Direction
Self-direction only works when participants can recruit, retain, and rely on qualified DSPs. Preserving flexible, participant-driven wage setting—including wage exceptions—is essential to choice, control, health, and safety.
DSPs in self-direction must earn a living wage. They work with independence, critical thinking, the ability to problem solve on the spot, broad responsibility, and minimal supervision or backup. The ability to offer a competitive wage, offsets the inability to offer such things as bonuses, tuition reimbursement, retirement savings, vision/hearing and the like.
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2. Participant choice to hire family as staff (with team support/substituted judgement when needed).
Many participants prefer to hire family members to be their DSPs. The ongoing shortage of quality candidates makes the option to hire family as staff essential to participants.
When participants experience an urgent or emergent need for staffing, they can often rely on a family staff member to step in. It should be noted that many participants receive both paid and unpaid support from family members.
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3. DSP Work Is Undervalued
We believe that the current BLS classifications do not reflect the reality of self-directed DSP work, which requires independence, critical thinking, the ability to problem solve on the spot, broad responsibility, and minimal supervision or backup.
At the same time, reductions to the Day-to-Day Administrator role have shifted more responsibility onto DSPs without appropriate wage recognition, further destabilizing the workforce.
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4. DDA Cost Containment is Understood —But No Reduction to DSP Wages
2025 DDA policy changed have already reduced wages to some staff (wage exceptions, geographical differential for example). To date, the impact and data of these changes has not been shared. Participants did not benefit from Cola’s amounting to 11% (was not applied to Self-Direction wages or vendor rates).
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5. DDA Cost-containment options to be discussed include:
- Voluntary staff sharing between participants.
- Lower rate for overnight supervision
- System-level rate adjustments paired with greater participant control over individual budget line items, allowing participants to decide where reductions occur.
- Systematic review of where to decrease administrative burdens to all parties wherever possible.
As always, we remain available to discuss this more fully. If you have questions or concerns please email selfdirectedadvocacynetworkmd@gmail.com.