Mark Olson of the National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals wrote in to correct an error in the article, “Court Underestimates Value of Direct Support: Long Island Care at Home vs. Coke: a Bad Decision and a Call to Action” by Kathleen Hagen (July 10, 2007). The article mentioned that NADSP had worked with the Department of Labor to include “Direct Support Professional” as a job title in its Dictionary of Occupational Titles. The title included was actually “Direct Support Specialist.”

Olson further commented, “The National Alliance along with our allies worked to get the title of ‘Direct Support Professional’ in the DOT. While I wish that we could have used our preferred title, the Department of Labor codification of ‘Direct Support Specialist’ does give us a common term we can use to describe all who provide direct support. I also encourage Direct Support Professionals to connect with our organization, embrace our code of ethics, explore our credentialing program and join us in changing how the nation views the work we do. When we show our professionalism en masse we can collectively ask the Department of Labor to make a change.”