Despite living with spina bifida and a learning disability, Rev. Dr. María R. Barrera has stayed true to her multi-cultural American Indian and Mexican heritage by giving back to the community in all aspects of her life. As a vocational rehabilitation (VR) specialist for the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) within the District of Columbia Department on Disability Services, she provides bilingual supportive services to individuals with disabilities to help them achieve independence and integration within their workplace.
One of the first steps María takes is to ask her clients what they would like to do with their lives. “Sometimes they have no vision, because in order to maintain their benefits, they give up their dreams and stay poor,” she explains.
María develops an Individualized Plan for Employment by working with clients to discover their interests, strengths and abilities, as well as their physical, mental or emotional limitations. Then, she guides them toward the appropriate education and training needed for the job, assists with their personal adjustment through the rehabilitation program and, later, helps qualified candidates find employment. María always tells her clients that if they have a goal to try. “Even if you fail, it’s better than someone saying, ‘You can’t do this.’ It’s important to invest in yourself.”
Her personal experience as a recipient of VR services often helps her relate to clients. “I always encourage people with disabilities to get higher education, because we need to become role models and represent the community.”
María says a friend on her wheelchair basketball team suggested she apply for VR services to help pay for school. They not only sponsored her bachelor’s degree in social work, but also her master’s degree in vocational rehabilitation counseling. In 2007, she received her doctorate in bilingual special education from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. with the financial assistance of RSA – a major reason why María wanted to give back to the agency that made her dream of higher education a reality.
In her free time, María provides one-on-one and group counseling to incarcerated American Indian prisoners through the Native American Indian Inmate Prison Project in Pennsylvania. Following the guidance of her tribe elders, she was asked to take a leadership role and establish With-In With-Out the Circle, Inc., a nonprofit organization named by the prisoners, located in Washington, D.C.
A 2005 graduate of All Faiths Seminary International, María ministers to those who are “behind the iron house” by using traditions, such as the drum, songs, sacred Pipe and Sweat Lodge Ceremonies and other spiritual teachings, to help them find inner peace. Since many of the prisoners struggle with intergenerational traumas and substance abuse, she encourages them to choose alternatives to drug or alcohol use and violence, with the hope that they will become better husbands, brothers or fathers when they return home.
Believing in the importance of her work, María also assisted with the establishment of American Indian Spiritual Cultural Councils within prisons across the nation.
“People may say, ‘You are wasting your time,’ but I am not, because I see the long-term effect,” says María. She shared how one prisoner told her that every day, he follows her advice to think before he hits. “It’s a beautiful thing to see the change. I tell them that I bring the tools, and you decide what to do with them.”
I was in many job trainings and want to send the vocational rehabilitation completed form to office from Nigeria. There were many things according to disability employers, so I hope that the vocational rehabilitation is the best education people with disabilities.
Meliss M.
I can definitely see the point that you are making. Sometimes when people have disabilities, it feels like others want to define our entire lives around that one single aspect of us. I think those of us who are at the point where we feel like our disability does not define our lives, have grown to accept and cope with our disability.
However, not all disabled people have grown to that point of acceptance. And some do need positive representations, like this one, to learn they can get there, too. You make a great point about the process of accepting a disability.
Way to go Maria (Cuqui ji)!!
Love from India (and Israel/Palestine)!!
Nidhi
We have known Maria through her involvement in Native American ceremonies. I have not known anyone who more typifies the Native virtues of fortitude and endurance. Some of the ceremonies require great physical challenges and Maria, despite her disability, has shown amazing strength. I’m sure she conveys that strength in her endeavors to serve others.
Maria, you are inspirational.
Why does what she has accomplished have to be “despite” her disabilities? She has accomplished these great things with her disabilities. I think we do a disservice to people, their accomplishments, and young people with disabilities looking for inspiration and role models by continuing to perpetuate the image that people are only successful by being at war with or completely dismissing their disabilities.
Maria’s strength, courage, spirituality, compassion, determination and insightful flexibility are a template for inspiration to all. We are all amazing human beings and capable of so much more than we normally give ourselves credit for. Let’s all take a signal from Maria and live life knowing and showing that we can be all that we can be! Well done Maria!
In gratitude for all you do!
Maria,
I have known you for over 14 years and am truly inspired by your charisma, your perseverance and your tenacity! I am proud to call you a colleague and a friend!!!
Rev. Dr. Barrera has set high standards for Wisdom Seekers to follow. My admiration follows how she has incorporated her KNOWING SPIRIT into encouragement and challenges for Native inmates. Her dedication and caring enables her to touch hearts as well as minds.
Through Dr. Barrera’s nurturing, wisdom and giving example; true circle is complete. This is true value in today’s world where our spirit has grown arrid of meaning.
With gratitude, Rev. Barrera,
Cynthia T. in California
Very proud of you!
What an inspiration to all! Thank you, Maria, for showing us how to use all of our time, gifts and talents in ways that nourish the soul. Your life has touched many people in many different ways. Shalom!
Hi,
I am physically disabled with some mobility problems. I have been a client of the local (Rochester, NY) VR office for approximately 12 years. Yes, the office assisted me in obtaining my Associates (2003) and Bachelor’s (2007, both Liberal Arts degrees), but that is as far as I’ve gone with them.
I would like to somehow connect with Rev. Dr. Maria R. Barrera.
Thank you,
Maria P.
My name is Vitanya A. I’m currently on SSI for mental illness. I love what you’re doing with the women in prison. I have been in prison twice, but am currently trying to get my life together.
THANKS FOR BEING AND REMAINING WHOM GOD CALLED YOU TO BE ON THIS SIDE OF THE JORDAN.
PASTOR REGGIE D. II
ATLANTA, GA
I have known Dr. Barrera for over three years and she is a very intelligent individual with lots of vision. When we first met, I was a student at UDC pursuing my BA. She assisted in developing an Individualized Plan for Employment. Additionally, she encouraged me to accomplish more, and I pursued a Master’s of Public Administration. She also encouraged me to pursue a post graduate degree, which I am presently pursuing.
Dr. Barrera is one of the most efficient vocational rehabilitation (VR) specialists that I have met at the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA). She provided individualized personal attention to each of her clients. She gave me her undivided attention each time I visited her. With her superior knowledge, ability to apply the Americans with Disabilities Act to create value for clients, social work knowledge, and professional commitment to serving the “disability community,” it is my opinion that she is underutilized. With her skills and vision, she should be placed in a management postion to manage the direction of RSA.
To this end, I wish Dr. Barrera the best in health to continue to be an instrument of change to the disability community. “Job well done, Dr. Barrera.”
Regards,
Jon
Job well done!!!
Dear Rev. Dr. Maria R. Barrera:
Please contact me if there are any Native American Indian Inmates who will move to Michigan after their release. The Fidelity Bonding Program (FBP) of Michigan is a helpful resource tool in bonding job seekers for employment in Michigan. Thank-you.
Michael P.
State Fidelity Bonding Coordinator
State of Michigan-Workforce Development Agency
Victor Office Center
201 N. Washington Square
3rd Floor West
Lansing, MI 48913
Let’s Bond.
For more information, please see the website below:
http://www.michigan.gov/fidelitybonding
What a true inspiration!!! I will use Dr. Barrera’s life and her work to inspire my clients who believe that the only choice they have is to seek SSI or government benefits instead of education and job training — many of whom have far lower barriers to overcome in life than Dr. Barrera.