By SPD Communications
Helping people with blindness or vision loss achieve their goals is a mission that Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services State Coordinator for Blind
Services Dana Barber takes very seriously. Because of her dedication to her job and strong work ethic, she was recently recognized with the Hezz Cox Award at the Alabama Chapter of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) Conference.
Dana, a resident of Harpersville, said she is honored to have been chosen for the award and grateful to her team. “I could not do my job without the great people who are around me,” she said. “It was an honor.”
The award is presented to a member of the Alabama Chapter who has been a member for at least three years and has shown commitment to the goals and principles of the chapter. The recipient also aids persons who are blind or visually impaired in their quest for acceptance in their community. Dana, who has spent 20 years combined with ADRS and the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, has a passion for helping those with blindness and low vision find their purpose because she understands their needs. In 1985, while working at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dana’s vision decreased to legal blindness. She said she assumed she would never work again and focused on raising her daughters.
When her children were grown, Dana felt the urge to gain new skills and return to the workforce. In the heart of the technology era, she said she found terms like “World Wide Web” and “Google” intriguing and wanted to learn more.
She reached out to Vocational Rehabilitation Service (VRS) and was soon enrolled in E.H. Gentry in classes focusing on orientation and mobility, Braille, and computer programs three days a week.
“Those three things changed my life,” she said. “I could travel from point A to B independently, I could read again with Braille, and I could access information using the computer. Those three things convinced me I could go back to school.”
With each milestone, Dana wanted to learn more. She earned an associate’s degree from Central Alabama Community College in Childersburg and then her bachelor’s in management of human resources from Faulkner University in 2006. She also earned her master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling from Auburn University in 2011. Armed with an education and a will to help others, Dana accepted a position with ADRS and VRS as a Professional Placement Coordinator working alongside Business Relations Consultants.
In 2010, she accepted a position as an independent living skills teacher at E.H. Gentry before returning to ADRS in 2015 as a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist (VRT).
After six months, she was promoted to her current position, where she has overseen many programs that help people of all ages with vision loss thrive.
Dana said she is always excited to see others succeed because she understands the hard work it takes to get there. She said she also has a passion for the programs available to help along the way.
“I am a product of the agency and what ADRS and our partner AIDB can do for someone,” she said. “I could not have done any of it without VR and AIDB.”