COLLEGE STUDENTS FEEL TOLL OF COMPUTER THEFT; DISABLED PROGRAMS PUT IN JEOPARDY.

Byline: Mary F. Pols Daily News Staff Writer

When five computers were stolen recently from Pierce College, the value of the heist was estimated at about $10,000. But for the 70 disabled students who relied on them as educational tools and a means of communicating with the rest of the world, the value was immeasurably higher.

For Gene Paul Del Rosario and about 20 other deaf students, the special software loaded onto the stolen Pentium computers was helping develop his writing skills, bridging the sometimes complex gaps between American Sign Language and spoken and written English.

For 10 quadriplegic students, one of the high-speed computers was absolutely crucial to their education. Voice-activated, it could take words from their mouth and turn them into essays as neatly typed as those turned in by students with full use of their limbs.

But those computers are gone, taken in the night by a thief who knew enough to snatch the five fast, new computers from the Disabled Student Services room and leave behind several outdated, nearly useless computers.

Police at the Woodland Hills campus are puzzled by the May 31 theft and do not have any leads.

Without the equipment, the teaching program for the deaf and disabled, including learning disabled students, will be decimated, school officials said.

``These weren't just run-of-the-mill,'' said teacher Norm Crozer of the computers. ``Without them our whole instructional program is just going to go down the tubes.''

Making a bad situation even more depressing, Crozer said, is the fact that the college didn't have any insurance policy on the computers, a business decision he attributed to budget cuts. Which means there is no money to replace the stolen computers.

School officials began appealing to major computer companies last week for loaners or used equipment. But so far, none has responded.

Del Rosario is hoping for something miraculous to happen by the time he goes back to school in August. The 19-year-old physical therapy student said he owes his improved writing skills to the computer and software program.

``It's helping me a lot,'' Del Rosario said in a telephone interview through the California Relay Operator system. ``When I used the computer, I understood English.

``You know, ASL is like a foreign language,'' he explained. ``When people sign with their hands it is very different than the English language.

``If I could say one thing to the thief,'' Del Rosario added. ``I'd say, `Bring it back.' ''