Fleuren, who was born without sight, first attended the school for the blind in Neuwied and the German Institute for the Blind in Marburg. She then worked as a shorthand typist for the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen from 1958-66 and from 1968 in the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs in Wiesbaden. After training as a senior civil servant, she worked at the Wiesbaden Social Welfare Office. From 1977-94 and 2006-11, she was a member of the Wiesbaden City Council for the SPD.

Her work here focused on social and health policy. In 1994, she became a member of the Hessian State Parliament, where she served until 2003. Here she worked on the social policy committee and in SPD social policy working groups. She was one of the few visually impaired members of the Hessian state parliament. She was supported in her parliamentary work by an assistant.

She was also involved in the Wiesbaden district group of the "Blinden- und Sehbehindertenbund Hessen e.V.", of which she was a member of the board; she was also the spokesperson for the SPD 60 plus working group. In 2012, she was awarded the gold citizens' medal by the state capital of Wiesbaden and appointed a city elder. She also received the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Collection of newspaper clippings from the Wiesbaden City Archives, "Fleuren, Erika".