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Founded in 1999 by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Zaydoon Jawadi, CanDo.com functions as a meeting ground and deep resource for the 25+ million people with disabilities who are
now online, as well as their families, friends and caregivers. Last February the start-up merged with the producers of SpineWire.com (a Web destination geared toward individuals
with spinal cord injuries) to broaden its reach, and added heavy hitters to its advisory board, including journalist John Hockenberry and attorney Ted Kennedy Jr. The site went
live in the spring, and is already planning to introduce a redesign next month to support more channels, chats, resources and a digital store featuring thousands of products,
ranging from audiobooks to adaptive devices to sports equipment.
Content/Channels
News and features cover a broad range of lifestyle, public policy and health issues, and are linked to five conditions: spinal cord injury/dysfunction, multiple sclerosis,
polio, Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) and learning differences. But content is quickly expanding to cover hearing, vision and cognitive disabilities, as well as other chronic
conditions such as aging, according to Editor-in-Chief Sam Maddox.
"We filter news just as any special interest group would," he says. "We look for things that are relevant, timely and useful to our audience - whether it's information about a
new law, a new piece of equipment, or advice about an issue that a person with a disability hasn't dealt with, such as how to cook or travel, or otherwise adjust their scheme of
daily living."
Channels include Advocacy, Conditions, Gear, People, Resources, Sexuality, Sports, Travel, News, Health, Research and Forums. Site content is updated daily, and the average
life span of a feature is about three days. Maddox acts as master gatekeeper for most story ideas, and prefers to be contacted by email at [email protected].
Pitch tips
The best queries are those that humanize the disability experience by putting a face on the issue at hand. "If we're doing an article about MS, we can have a scientist talk
about the research, but we'll also want to go out and find an individual who's gone through the clinical trial. We always want to include the community and the people as part of
the editorial mix," Maddox says.
Avoid nouns such as "the disabled" and speak specifically about individuals. "People are not defined by their condition," he says. "That's not a spinal cord injury over there,
it's a person with a spinal cord injury." Use a phrase like "confined to a wheelchair" and your pitch will definitely go out with the trash.
Similarly, don't cast people with disabilities as heroic figures who have overcome great odds. "We deal with reality, but never look at it through the lens of pity," Maddox
says.
The site's focus is on lifestyle solutions and practical tools that enable people to live more robust lives, he says. Not melodrama.
Comments
The breadth of stories in CanDo.com's archives is deep and wide. Recent pieces covered topics as diverse as the Internet singles scene, a campaign launched by Sen. Tom Harkin
to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the ADA, news about genome sequencing and a profile of Peter Rieke, a "para" who climbed Mt. Rainier.
"This site is not just about looking at a particular disease," Maddox says. "It's also looking at employment and travel and family issues and more. Let's say a person with a
disability wants to have a family. There may be unique issues about fertility, pregnancy and childcare. A parent who has a child with a disability will have numerous interests
related to education and psycho-social development - not to mention their own guilt. A working person who has an aging parent has all sorts of needs, maybe for assistive
equipment or technology. And they're coping with the fact that the parent doesn't define himself as a person with a disability."
"We are building a community and building trust in that community. We want people to be able to find what they need in our place."