At Phoenix College, in Arizona, most classes have seen an increasing number of disabled students, but usually only one student with a given disability is present. When five deaf students enrolled in a Plants and Society course in fall 1994, the instructor became aware of problems which were not evident with single disabled students. First, although sign interpreters were present the instructor noticed a communication gap with the students, especially with humor used to illustrate class material. Moreover, the students' grades were well below what they were capable of achieving. The situation was partially remedied when the deaf students chose to split into different lab groups and thus began communicating with hearing students. In addition, the instructor decided to learn about American Sign Language to understand some of the obstacles. Realizing that the Internet would allow deaf students to readily communicate with others while helping to improve written English skills, the instructor also arranged a class on using the Internet for the deaf students. Despite these efforts, three of the students eventually dropped out of the college, while the other two transferred to state universities. It is determined that future hearing disabled students at the college will receive computer instruction early in their education. (Includes a list of Internet addresses of interest to deaf students and contains eight references.) (BCY)