Deaf President Now!

Not Rated • Apple TV+

Deaf President Now! tells the story of one turbulent week at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the only institution of higher education in the world that specifically caters to deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

The story starts on a Sunday in the spring of 1988. The board of trustees had just chosen the university’s seventh president, but the student body was dismayed. In its 124-year history, Gallaudet had never had a deaf president, and many had expected that to change. After all, two of the three finalists for the job were deaf.

But the board of trustees, led by Jane Spilman, opted for the hearing candidate, and the shocked students erupted in anger.

That Sunday night they took to the streets and marched to Spilman’s hotel, demanding she explain herself. Spilman eventually spoke to the crowd, only making matters worse.

The next day, students locked the gates to the campus, resulting in a standoff with administrators and authorities. The campus would not reopen until the students got the deaf president they demanded. As the week progressed and news coverage intensified, the American people began to voice their support for the students.

The documentary, which contains a few instances of strong language, features plenty of news footage from 1988, with a few brief reenactments to fill in the gaps. It primarily focuses on the four student ringleaders of the protest, each of whom gives extensive interviews. The film communicates their passion, even though viewers will find some of them more sympathetic than others.

It’s an interesting story, in and of itself, but the film also gives a glimpse into the complicated attitudes within the deaf community. We hear about generational shifts among deaf people. We’re told deafness isn’t an impairment or a problem to be fixed. And we see startling prejudice, as some deaf people accuse others of not being “deaf enough.”