She was born a member of the itinerant Yeniche people, but was separated from her family by the program Kinder der Landstrasse, and raised in institutions and by foster parents.

[1] She was affected by the program Kinder der Landstrasse, a project which tried to assimilate Yenish children by separating them from their families.

Mehr documented strong reactions in her 1987 book about the play and the programme, Kinder der Landstrasse: Ein Hilfswerk, ein Theater und die Folgen (Children of the Country Road: A Charity, a Theatre and the Consequences).

Another 1986 drama, Anni B., is focused on a woman who fought as a member of the International Brigades in Spain and was placed in a mental institution when she returned to Switzerland.

[8] It was performed at the Theaterhaus Gessnerallee [de] in Zürich in 1991, but without the author's consent; she thought that her text had been changed too much.

[7] In 2000, she resigned from the authors' club Gruppe Olten because the group had removed the goal of realising a democratic socialist society from its mission statement.

She was a founding member of the International Romani Writers' Association (IRWA) in 2002, and served as its vice president for some time.