"ADAPT was started in November 2000 following a conference on 'Citizenship and barriers'. ADAPT began as a group for disabled people to meet and exchange ideas. Soon it moved beyond a social group to become an activist group for them to advocate for their rights," says Diane Saldanha, team coordinator at the Spastic Society of India in Bandra, Mumbai.

One of ADAPT's activities is to teach computing and the Internet to people with disabilities. Contractor, for instance, plays games on the Net and downloads songs and MP3 files. Using his feet, he emails his sister in England and chats with his brother on Yahoo! Pager. He feels freer and can express himself better now that he's started using the Internet to communicate and is much closer to his brother and sister now that he chats with them everyday.

Nilesh Singit (32) does more than just chat on the computer. An MA in English literature, Singit found it very difficult to find a job after graduation, "because a person with a disability was a disadvantage". Several computer courses later, he set up a small software consulting company with his brother and now works on the Internet, creating and writing for Web sites on a freelance basis.

Singit also uses the Internet to do research. "I'm doing a two-year post-graduate course in human rights from the NHRC. I do a lot of research on the Web for that," he says. One of the Web sites he visits most often is the UN site.

Similarly, Contractor spends a lot of time with search engines, researching cancer because his mother is afflicted with the disease. He downloads the information and sends it to his sister in the UK.

Research on the Internet takes on a more practical side with Sunita Sancheti. She shares her office space with colleague Neenu Kewlani. Both are tucked into a corner of the Spastic Society's building, and as I walk in, they are busy sending emails to builders and architects, informing them of a site that details specifications and measurements of buildings and spaces which have been designed to meet the needs of the disabled and urging them to keep these dimensions in mind for their future projects.

Sancheti is visiting Mt Titilus this summer and wanted to know if they are geared for disabled people like her. "I didn't want to be stuck in my wheelchair in the hotel all day after traveling such a long way, so I sent them an email to check if their hotel was fully accessible to disabled people," she says. "I got a quick reply and now I'm going to visit Mt Titilus!"

Using the Internet, Sancheti has also recently found out about a new kind of brace that can be attached to a splint and locks the legs in place. "This prevents us from collapsing. It'll be available soon and I'll definitely think about using it," she says.

Kewlani too uses search engines to find answers to questions she may have about her disability. "There are so many issues and areas of this disability for which I have no answers, which I can now find on the Internet," she says.

Kewlani feels closer to her friends across the world now that she can chat with them online. She is also a regular visitor to the site of the World Association of Persons with Disabilities. "This Web site has a wonderful chat room where people with different disabilities across the world come and discuss and share their experiences, problems and situations."

ADAPT has a discussion group where members pose a question on any topic, which is then open for discussion. Saldanha point out "Discussions often go beyond issues of disability and access on to issues concerning life itself… Some of the things these people are concerned about are the issues of independent living, taxation and concessions for people with disabilities, employment. Marriage is another issue that is discussed, especially the question whether a person without a disability would be willing to marry someone who is disabled."

A posting by Contractor, an important contributor to the discussion group, takes up this very issue: 'I have a question for u'll, last Saturday one of my Spastic firends got engage to a normal girl I m happy for him but at the same time its make me question myself why would any normal girl would marry Spastic in today's world where even sibling of disable person are not ready to take responsibilty after their died of parents. Do u have answer?' [Sic]

Singit, who moderates the group, is now planning to form a Web group to encourage accessibility of sites for persons with disabilities. "The way you use tags will make Web sites more accessible," he explains. "The best way to make out if a Web site is accessible or not is to open the code and try and describe it to a friend through the code. If everything is detailed, you know it will be accessible by all people."

Sancheti also agrees that the Internet has tremendous potential to help disabled people. "So many of us aren't even aware that we get concessions and benefits in taxes, insurance policies, Mediclaim and in various other areas. If all this is put up on the Internet we could be made more aware," she says.

While the Internet has helped these disabled people to communicate better and faster, it still has tremendous potential to grow from being a computer tool to forming communities and support groups online. "Abroad, there is a lot of stuff that caters specifically for people with disabilities, from physical access to Internet applications to support groups, but this is not the case in India," Singit says. "Even if they existed they would be very expensive and affordable only by a few people."

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 -- Sites Unseen - The Web is not off limits for the blind