Most people outside the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities have never heard of the Deaf President Now movement.
But, thanks to a new documentary by the same name, many more will know about it soon. “Deaf President Now!” premieres May 16 on Apple TV.
In 1988, students at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C.—the only university on the planet that serves deaf and hard-of-hearing students—were shocked and outraged to learn that the school’s board had chosen to hire a hearing president over several equally qualified deaf candidates. They sprang into action. What followed was eight days of rallies, boycotts and protests that ultimately led to the termination of the new hire and the hiring of Dr. I. King Jordan, the university’s first deaf president.
According to Apple TV, the Deaf President Now movement is the “story of the greatest civil rights movement most people have never heard of.”
“The protests marked a pivotal moment in civil rights history, with an impact that extended well beyond the Gallaudet campus and paved the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),” says Apple’s announcement of the documentary.
The film is the latest widely distributed full-length documentary to focus on social justice movements that changed the course of history for disabled Americans. “Crip Camp” (2020) and “Change Not Charity” (2025), both directed by Jim LeBrecht, also explore groundbreaking actions that eventually led to the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Co-directed by screenwriter, producer and novelist Davis Guggenheim and Gallaudet alumni, actor and deaf activist Nyle DiMarco, the film uses archival footage, scripted elements and interviews with members of the so-called “Gallaudet Four”—then students Jerry Covell, Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Tim Rarus and Greg Hlibok—and the former university president I. King Jordan, to tell the movement’s story.
In order to provide hearing viewers with a sense of what it’s like to be deaf, the film uses a technique known as Deaf Point of View, which uses “impressionistic visual photography and intricate sound design” to simulate the Deaf experience.
“Deaf President Now!” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in January of this year. The film won “festival favorite” at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival.
In an interview with Disability Scoop, DiMarco said he hopes the film “inspires people to see Deaf people not as something to fix, but as something to celebrate, value and fight for.”
Photo: The Gallaudet Four at a screening held at the university in April 2025.
