The Dot Experience Cast: Denna Lambert

Denna Lambert has always set her sights high. As the Inclusive Innovation Lead for Early Stage Innovation and Partnerships, in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, she champions accessibility and inclusion every day. Join us as we learn about Denna’s life, career, and passion for helping others’ voices be heard.

Life

Born with congenital cataracts with some remaining vision, Denna’s parents were strong advocates for her education and did everything they could to give her a head start. Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, she attended public school and summer programs at a school for the blind, showing an early interest in technology, eventually building her own computer!

Attending the University of Arkansas after high school, she initially pursued a degree in electrical engineering. However, she had difficulty getting accommodations approved and feeling accepted by the program as a black woman with a disability. “I had really good math skills, but in my sophomore year, I let my professor’s doubts get in the way,” said Denna. “I didn’t have blind scientists and blind engineers as role models. I didn’t see people that looked like me.” Denna made the decision to switch her major to business administration and management.

Denna volunteers as a Girl Scout Troop Leader in her spare time and is mom to a 4-year-old son. “Blind and disabled people have similar dreams and aspirations just like anyone else. They want to have meaningful work and family experiences, too,” Denna says. “I knew from an early age that I wanted to support a child that needed a home, but I definitely had my own fears of whether or not someone would pick me as a blind and single mom.”

Career

Encountering many barriers when she began searching for a job, Denna says the employers she interviewed with couldn’t see how a person who was blind or low vision could be successful in the workplace. Noticed by someone at NASA after she was invited to speak at a conference for students with disabilities, Denna soon began her career with NASA as a Contract Specialist and has since held several exciting roles with the agency. Many of the positions she’s held have directly involved inclusion and accessibility.

One of her most memorable roles at NASA was as project manager for the Goddard Library renovation, where she worked with architects, internal designers, and NASA scientists to identify how the library could be transformed to better meet the needs of researchers and the center itself. In her current role, she and a team of leaders work with small businesses, universities, faculty, and the general public who have ideas that need an opportunity to be invested in so they can go into higher-technology readiness level projects, like flight mission projects. “We’re really trying to think proactively about starting conversations where good technology ideas exist in underrepresented and underutilized communities,” says Denna.

Breaking Barriers

When asked about the barriers she has faced as a black woman and a person with low vision, she said, “I think people see my blindness first (i.e. my white cane or guide dog) before they see me as a black woman.” She said this often shows up as inaccessible material, people being unsure of how to interact with or assist her, or changing their expectations of her based on misconceptions they may have. “I think the perception of disability is changing in the black community, but I think that it is due to the fact that more black men and women are speaking more openly about it and educating families who look like them.”

Denna’s Words of Wisdom

“Embrace your identity. Learn more about yourself and how life has shaped you. It is an ever-evolving process of acceptance and embracing who you are as a beautiful and unique individual.”

“Become more open to other perspectives on life and lived experiences. I routinely ask myself if I’m basing my decision or perspective solely on my own experience or am I incorporating the helpful perspectives of a diverse group of people. This is especially true for when we realize that the voices, opinions, and perspectives of people with disabilities, specifically blind people, may not be adequately invited, included, and incorporated into spaces where decisions, policies, and programs are designed and implemented.”

Want to learn more about Denna? Check out her video interview for The Dot Experience, her Black History Month interview, her Change Makers Podcast episode, her CareerConversations Webinar, and her interview with APH CareerConnect.

Denna is one of the exceptional individuals featured in The Dot Experience. From chefs and artists to skateboarders and beyond, these people who are blind or low vision are accessibility advocates, actively working to break down barriers, challenging stereotypes and misconceptions about blindness.