Direct Support Professional Recognition Week ran Sept. 13 through 19, 2026. ANCOR, the national provider association, framed it as a chance to show the work that usually stays invisible: the shifts that make community life possible.
What ANCOR asked agencies to do
The association asked agencies to request mayoral proclamations and short thank-you messages from local officials, then share what they had planned so the week could be seen beyond a single workplace.
Recognition week does not change a rate. It does put a date on the calendar for a job whose pay is still being argued over in state budgets and wage rules.
Why this matters for providers and DSPs
For agencies, the week is a ready-made occasion to thank staff directly and, as ANCOR suggested, to ask local officials to recognize DSPs in public. For DSPs, recognition is not a raise, but it puts work that usually stays invisible in front of the officials and communities who rarely see it.