Ronnis Moore, a Community Support Supervisor with Employment and Business Services – Brooklyn, provided a personal reflection about her career to Open Future Learning. Open Future Learning is an online learning provider dedicated to the professional improvement of the intellectual and developmental disability workforce. AHRC NYC and Open Future Learning collaborate with the NADSP E-Badge Academy, which has provided many AHRC NYC employees engaged in direct support to enhance their professional development and discover new strategies for supporting people with disabilities in a variety of settings. We thank Ronnis, for the work she does and for sharing her story, which appears below.
I found this job at a moment when my life felt dark. I’ve struggled with depression and anxiety since I was young. I’d just left my home health aide job that didn’t feel meaningful anymore. I needed something that felt more fulfilling.
I didn’t know much about the developmental disability field when I applied [to AHRC NYC]. I just knew the job description felt different. And during my first week, when I met the people we support, something inside me settled. Their energy lifted me. Their determination. Their joy. They get underestimated all the time, but then you see how capable they are, how much they want community and friendship. Being around them made me want to keep going.
If my younger self saw me now, she’d be shocked I’m still here. As dark as that sounds, it’s true. There were days I didn’t think I’d make it to the next one. This job came at the right moment… it really saved my life.
There have been moments I’ll never forget. When one person I support had a medical emergency. I didn’t freeze like I thought I would. I just acted. Later I shook from the adrenaline, but in the moment, I was exactly who she needed.
And there have been moments that broke my heart. Someone once shared something painful that had happened to them in another program. It reminded me how often people with developmental disabilities aren’t believed. That stayed with me. It made me even more determined to show up with respect and belief.
I help run a women’s group. It is a safe space for some of the women I support. We talk about everything: friendships, grief, mental health, stuff they don’t feel comfortable asking their parents. Some days we laugh. Some days we cry. They looked forward to it. Honestly, so do I.
AHRC NYC helped my colleagues and me access an online learning resource called Open Future Learning, which allowed us to participate in the National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) E-Badge Academy. The courses helped me grow significantly, especially the autism modules and the lessons on professional boundaries. Through this learning and professional development, I was able to become a nationally certified Direct Support Professional. It meant more than I expected. I started strong, but then my mental health dipped and I stopped for a while. I didn’t think I’d finish. But I did. It felt like I proved something to myself.
Direct Support Professionals deserve to be paid more. We’re mentors, counselors, supporters. We wear a lot of hats. But even without the bonuses, I would’ve done the training. I love this work.
What I hope for is simple: inclusion. Real inclusion. A world where people with disabilities are seen the same as anyone else. No limits. No lowered expectations.
And for myself? I just hope my story reads like someone who kept going. Someone who helped others feel less alone. I’m still here. I’m still fighting. And I’m doing something I love. It doesn’t feel like work. It feels like purpose.
