Publishing Disability Directories as a Revenue Source: CapeAbilities

When he learned last year that funding was desperately needed to continue publishing the Cape Cod Disability Access Directory, Larry Thayer, CapeAbilities' executive director, sought a grant from the Lyndon Lorusso Charitable Foundation.

The grant saw the directory through last year's publication, allowing JAM Specialists' Jean Ann McLaughlin to purchase hardware and software to produce the publication and CapeAbilities to train staff to assess potential sites to be included.

This year, Thayer and McLaughlin invited the Cape Organization for the Rights of the Disabled (CORD), one of last year's sponsors of the directory, to join them as co-publishers. "We were able to use last year's advertising revenue to fund this year's directory," Thayer said.

Before CapeAbilities' involvement, McLaughlin was founder and sole publisher of the directory. "I made all the site visits myself," McLaughlin said. "That's becoming increasingly difficult for me to do."

Disabled as a result of a drunk-driving accident, in 1996 McLaughlin turned her disability into an asset for Cape Codders and the millions of visitors with challenges by founding JAM Specialists INC., which publishes the annual Cape Cod Disability Access Directory.

CapeAbilities' clients have taken over responsibility for delivering the directories to senior centers, libraries, chambers of commerce, the National Seashore, and increasingly, hotels and motels.

kedlocal.com/dennis/news/lifestyle/health/x1632299787