Dora Matijević joins the march in her review of Deaf President Now!
On a sunny week in the spring of 1988, at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C., the Deaf community experienced a pivotal moment – one that remains widely unknown. Gallaudet is often described as the only university for Deaf people in the world. That’s not entirely accurate – other institutions existed before it, like NTID at RIT and technical or vocational schools in the Soviet Union. But Gallaudet remains the only university in the world, ever, to be fully and exclusively for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students, with a Deaf cultural and linguistic environment at its core.
At the time, Gallaudet had never had a Deaf president in its 124-year history, and the students were ready for a change. That year, there were three candidates for the position: two Deaf men and a hearing woman. The board chose the hearing candidate – reportedly justifying their decision by saying “Deaf people cannot function in a hearing world.” That statement lit the fuse. Four students – Greg, Jerry, Bridgetta, and Tim – rose to lead the protest, each with rivalry for leadership.
Jerry, assertive and driven, positioned himself as a leader, but the student body backed Greg, whose quiet resolve and clear vision ultimately shaped the movement. Despite residual resentment, Jerry acknowledges how the protest transformed Greg, inspiring a speech that helped secure their victory. The campus erupted: students barricaded the gates and issued four non-negotiable demands. Just a few days later, Dr. I. King Jordan was appointed the first Deaf president of Gallaudet.
By involving Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals at every level – from cast to crew – the film authentically portrays the Deaf perspective. From the opening scenes, there’s a deep emotional impact achieved by synchronising voiceover with the student leaders’ signing. Irish editor Michael Harte tackles the challenge of mimicking sound visually, crafting a style that immerses viewers in the Deaf community’s sensory world. This “Deaf Point of View” technique often fades sound away, allowing impressionistic imagery, close-ups of signing hands, slow motion, and creative camera angles to take centre stage. One striking scene shows students pounding the locked university gates – fists moving rhythmically, the camera tightly focused on their hands – pulsing in time with lips silently chanting. During tense moments like the standoff with the board, subtle camera movements and careful pacing further add to the tension.
Deaf President Now! is co-directed by Deaf activist and model Nyle DiMarco, and Oscar-winning documentarian Davis Guggenheim, who both bring unique perspectives. Together, they blend archival footage, first-person accounts, and a range of visual storytelling techniques to capture the energy and urgency of the movement. The narrative doesn’t just present what happened – it conveys why it mattered and the emotional and political stakes for those involved. The message at the core of this project is the Deaf community’s pursuit of civil rights.
What makes Deaf President Now! so groundbreaking is how the Deaf community is given the space to tell their own story, and on their own terms. In doing so, the film doesn’t just document history; it gives the mic back to those who shaped it.
Deaf President Now! is available to stream on Apple TV.
