Angela Barker

Angela Barker is an Australian advocate for victims of domestic violence.

Assault and recovery On 7 March 2002, at 16 years old, Barker was assaulted by her 20-year-old boyfriend. They had been dating since Angela was 14, and he had previously assaulted her multiple times. His attacks culminated that day in 2002, after Barker refused to date him after they had previously broken up. He beat her, and Barker was found by a passerby. After the assault, Angela's family was told that she would remain in a vegetative state forever. After five years, she regained the ability to talk. Barker does not recall the 12 months before the attack, and her memory has only recovered to somewhere within thirteen and fifteen. In 2007, Angela told the story of her assault in a special session of the United Nations General Assembly devoted to children. She was chosen as one of 15 women to meet at the UN for a four-day conference on activism and policy.

In 2011, Barker was voted Victoria's Young Australian of the Year. Barker also appeared in a 2019 episode of You Can’t Ask That, in an episode focused on domestic and family violence survivors. Alongside other survivors, she detailed her experience and answered several common questions faced by survivors in order to raise awareness.