Deaf President Now! review – passion and energy in stirring record of student protest

Documentary follows the 1988 anti-audism revolt in the US after the world’s first deaf university appointed a hearing person to head it‘It’s awfully difficult to talk above this loud noise,” says the chair of the board of trustees at a liberal arts university. It’s the late 1980s, protesting students have shut down the campus and now, midway through a tense meeting, someone has set off the fire alarm. But here’s the thing, Gallaudet University in Washington DC is the world’s first deaf university. The students can have a conversation just fine with the alarms blaring – in sign language. But trustee chair Jane Bassett Spilman does not sign. In fact, she appears to be completely ignorant about deaf culture – and, dressed like a Margaret Thatcher lookalike, all handbags and helmet hair, she is the easy-to-loathe villain of this fascinating documentary.Co-directed by actor and deaf activist Nyle DiMarco with Davis Guggenheim, this is the story of an eight-day student protest at Gallaudet in 1988. Trouble started when the board, led by Spilman, appointed a hearing person as the university’s president, over two deaf candidates. The film’s heroes are the four students who led the uprising: Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Jerry Covell, Greg Hlibok and Tim Rarus; they are entertainingly interviewed here. With a blend of archive footage and re-enactments the film-makers skilfully recreate the urgency, passion and energy of their protest. Continue reading...

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