Barber serves on Council on People
with Disabilities
-- HRD Human Resources Support Center, November 2005

Helping individuals who are living with a disability is Der Barber’s passion. Barber, who is visually impaired, uses primarily her left eye to see and credits her experiences living with a disability as an important aid as she serves on a governor’s council for disabled individuals.

Her vision impairment was caused by her mother being exposed to rubella while pregnant with her. Although Barber can see larger objects, small objects or actions are difficult for her to distinguish.

As an appointee to the Ohio Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities, Barber is living out her passion. A human resources analyst in the HRD Human Resources Support Center, Barber has served on the council since being appointed in October 2003.

Council members are responsible for advising Governor Bob Taft and the Ohio General Assembly on disability issues, based on their life experiences, talents and backgrounds. Barber said that her previous advocacy work, leadership skills and international heritage made her a good fit for the board.

Barber lived in Taiwan until she was 11, when she moved to Cambridge, Ohio, where her mother and American stepfather were living. During her childhood in Taiwan, she helped guide her wheelchair-bound uncle who had polio around their neighborhood. He helped her see.

“I was his feet and he was my eyes,” Barber said.

She said this early experience was as a catalyst for her future desire to become a disabilities advocate.

She continued advocating for disabled individuals when she was a student at Columbus State Community College as president of the campus club for students with disabilities and as a student ambassador, promoting the college to prospective students. Barber went on to earn an associate’s degree from Columbus State and a bachelor’s degree from Franklin University.

Barber has worked for the State of Ohio for six years, starting at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and then for HRD.

Assuming several leadership roles in the council, she serves as second vice chair of the council and chairs the education committee and Youth Leadership Forum.

As chair of the education committee, she facilitates briefings to educate individuals, employers and the general public about the effects of state and federal laws such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Youth Leadership Forum is an annual four-day conference for disabled junior and senior high school students. During the conference, delegates from across Ohio interact with professional adults with disabilities, policymakers and advocates.

“My grandma always taught me that education, family and friends were the most important things,” Barber said.

Barber is looking forward to serving another three years on the council and helping to enable disabled students and adults dream about future opportunities.