The biggest student protest you never heard of took place in 1988, when the Deaf students of Gallaudet University rose up to demand that a Deaf person be chosen as President of the world’s only university for the Deaf, for the first time in 124 years. The powerful documentary DEAF PRESIDENT NOW tells the story of that game-changing eight-day protest, which took place before the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and did so much to change how other people saw Deaf people. It marked a major turning point in the drive for equal rights for Deaf and others classified as disabled by society.
And the Gallaudet students had reason to hope for a Deaf president this time, as the university’s governing Board of Directors was considering three candidates, two of which were Deaf. But they chose the one hearing person, and the outraged students poured out in protest, eventually taking over Gallaudet’s Washington, D.C. campus, carrying signs and banners demanding “Deaf President Now.” After waiting 124 years since Gallaudet’s founding. it finally was time for a Deaf president.
The documentary capitalizes Deaf throughout, and this review follows that lead. DEAF PRESIDENT NOW revisits this monumental moment for deaf people and for human rights, through contemporary interviews with the four student leaders of this rebellion, Greg Hlibok, then the newly-elected student body president, charismatic, fiery leader Jerry Covell, energetic feminist Bridgetta Bourne-Firl and committed, steady force Tim Rarus. The contemporary interviews are supplemented by stills and archival footage of the events, before and after the students took over the college campus. There are also interviews with one of the deaf candidates for president of Gallaudet, a popular professor on campus, Prof. I. King Jordan. The documentary, which debuted at Sundance this year, was co-directed by Davis Guggenheim and Nyle DiMarco.
This rebellion of Deaf students took place in 1988, before the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but near the end of a century that saw numerous groups stand up and demand their rights. At the beginning of the twentieth century, women demanded the right to vote, and got it in 1920. In the 1950s, after the end of WWII, the Civil Rights Era began, as Black people demanded their rights. In the 1960s, woman demanded equality and almost got the Equal Right Amendment passed despite extra restrictions placed on it. In the 1970s, gay people spoke up and fought back to demand their rights, and at the end of the 1970s, older people and those with disabilities began to demand their rights too. The 1980s saw this trend toward rights stall, but didn’t kill the fight for rights for the disabled.
The documentary does not go into this historical context but it is important that audiences keep it in mind while witnessing the degree of condescension with which the students are treated, first by the imperious wealthy woman, Mrs. Spilman, who is the board’s president, and then by the hearing woman the board selected, Dr. Zinzer, a nurse with no experience dealing with the deaf community, as the best candidate for president of the world’s only university for the deaf. Neither woman knew sign language and both spoke to students in soothing tones as if they were small children while failing to address their very valid concerns.
DEAF PRESIDENT NOW toggles back and forth between the contemporary interviews and archival images and footage, some in black-and-white and some in color, detailing the events of each of the eight days of the protest, all of which is marked with a title card. The archival footage includes some of broadcast interviews with the university’s Board President, Mrs Spilman.
An interesting aspect of this moving film is its sound design. Periodically, the directors just drop out the sound, so we “hear” what the students hear, which is silence. It is a striking effect, because it comes and goes, and constantly reminds us their world. The four leaders of the protest, and deaf professor I. King Jordan, all speak some on their experiences growing up, either in a deaf family or in one more mixed. There is discussion of degrees of hearing loss, differences between people who grew up deaf and those who became deaf later, and about deaf culture itself.
This well-made, eye-opening documentary is both an inspiring and moving film about an important, unjustly forgotten historical event and an intriguing glimpse into deaf culture, with a chance to meet some real heroes who changed the world for the better.
DEAF PRESIDENT NOW debuts streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday, May 16.
RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars
