MARYVILLE, Tenn. — People with a disability are twice as likely to be unemployed in the U.S.
Data from the U.S Department of Labor show around 21% of people with a disability have a job, while 65% of people without a disability were employed.
One mother in East Tennessee is working to close that gap. That mother is Jennifer Carpenter. She is a transition case manager with Blount County Schools and a mother of a daughter with cerebral palsy.
Carpenter has made it her mission to help other parents like her. She said she knows how it feels to be a young mother trying to find the right resources to raise her daughter with disabilities.
Her daughter is now 20 years old and she said it took a village.
"I wasn't given resources, I wasn't given an how to book, I wasn't given a checklist of you need to do this, this and this for your child," she said. "I was just given a diagnosis that was earth-shattering to a new mom."
Carpenter has twin daughters. One of them was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She said parenthood is already hard and raising a kid with disabilities takes a group of individuals to point you to the right resources.
That is why she started to host a community-wide disability fair where different support groups and organizations can connect with families.
"One thing we need to do is outreach and provide resources to our families," she said.
Carpenter works with Blount County Cchools and it was through her work in the schools she noticed the support that parents with disabilities kids need.
"Our children stay at home with us, I will never be an empty nester. I will never take trips with my husband alone as an older couple, my child will always be with me," she said.
People like Tammy Hearon are there to step in and help parents. Hearon is an instructor with Project Search Instructor and she helps students with disabilities get jobs. Over her years of work she has helped 44 students.
"We teach them unique skills and transferable skills for jobs. We teach them to speak about their marketable skills," Hearon said. "Because we know that when you're speaking with people with disabilities there's a huge gap."
She says outreach efforts, such as the fair, is important and shows employers the value of expanding their candidate pools.
"A lot of the times we will see people do not realize the capabilities and the employable skill set these students have," Hearon said.
Carpenter said that people like her daughter want to work and people need to become more comfortable around disabilities.
"A lot of times you hear the word disability and you think limitations or negative they can't and that is completely wrong," Carpenter said. "Our students and our adults, they want to work, they want to be a part of a community, they want to be involved and valued within their community."
This is the fourth fair she's hosted and her goal is to continue them throughout Blount County.