Julie Barber is 15, with a learner’s permit and a burning desire to get behind the wheel of a car.
But due to a combination of a recent change in state law and her mother’s severe vision problems, she won’t be driving anytime soon.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver, Barber and her mother contend they are victims of discrimination.
That’s because the state requires a parent or guardian with a Colorado driver’s license to be in the car with Julie. But her mother doesn’t have a license, and state authorities are refusing to allow the Barbers to substitute another adult.
Marcia Barber, 50, contends Colorado Attorney General John Suthers suggested she assign legal guardianship of her daughter to someone else so the girl could drive, according to the lawsuit.
“At that point, I was personally offended,” Barber said.
A spokeswoman for Suthers said he has sympathy for the Barbers and suggested a limited guardianship as a way to offer the family options, said Kristen Hubbell, with the Attorney General’s office.
“Unfortunately, he cannot override a state statute,” Hubbell said.
Relief may be in sight, Hubbell said, since a bill headed for the governor’s desk would allow a grandparent to be substituted for a parent or guardian.
State law allows 15-year-olds to drive when accompanied by a parent or guardian who also is a licensed driver. Marcia Barber, who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, has sole custody of Julie, whose father lives in California.
Marcia Barber said she thinks it’s important for her daughter, who is an A and B student at her Colorado Springs high school, to have supervised practice behind the wheel.
She has asked for an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act to allow Julie to drive with two adults in the car: her mother and an adult who has a driver’s license.
“She’s a good kid,” said Marcia Barber. “She completed and passed driver’s education. She’s ready, willing and able to drive. I think she needs the practice. But I’m left with no options.”
The Barbers filed the lawsuit against the Colorado Department of Revenue, which oversees the state Division of Motor Vehicles. Diane Reimer, a spokeswoman for the department, did not return a phone call Monday seeking comment.
Joining the Barbers in the federal lawsuit is the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of those with disabilities.
Marcia Barber, who is an administrative assistant at a school, said she has tried to ensure Julie and her other daughter, Madeline, 13, don’t suffer because of her disability.
The Barbers want the court to order the state to be flexible when it comes to dealing with minors who want to drive on a learner’s permit but whose parents are disabled. They also are seeking monetary damages and attorney’s fees.
Staff writer Alicia Caldwell can be reached at 303-820-1930 or acaldwell@denverpost.com.
