INTERVIEW: ‘Deaf President Now!’ details Gallaudet University protests in 1988
Photo: Deaf President Now! features the story of Greg Hlibok, one of the Gallaudet Four. Photo courtesy of Apple TV+ / Provided by press site with permission. Image description: A student, standing to the left, talks with two women, standing to the right.
Deaf President Now!, the new documentary from Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim, details a pivotal chapter in a civil rights movement that is often forgotten. But this story is forgotten no more thanks to this engaging film, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and is set to premiere Friday, May 16, on Apple TV+.
The documentary details the events leading up to a massive protest in 1988 at Gallaudet University, a world educational leader for the Deaf and signing community. At the time, the school’s board of trustees appointed a hearing president over qualified Deaf candidates, and this caused rallies and boycotts to break out on campus over the next week, according to press notes. Deaf President Now! features interviews with some of the students involved in the protests, including a group that became known as the Gallaudet Four — Jerry Covell, Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Tim Rarus and Greg Hlibok.
“Before this happened, Deaf people were considered comfortable because they were taken care of by the system,” Hlibok explained during a recent Zoom interview. “They said, ‘Know your place. Your place is here. Stay comfortable here.’ But our protest was about stopping the status quo, coming out of our comfort zone and showing that we can take control of these aspects of our lives, and one of those things was to have a Deaf president of the university leading us. There are many, many other things that Deaf people can do, but I think that’s the message that still has impact today: Don’t be satisfied with the status quo, get out of your comfort zone, assert your rights and move forward. We look at the political climate we exist in today, and don’t take things for granted because you need to continue to have a vision and to understand that your rights need to be maintained because they can’t be taken away.”
Rarus agreed with his friend’s assessment of the historical importance of the 1988 protests, which helped push the growing movement for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To prove his point of how perceptions changed, Rarus shared a specific story about his grandfather and Deaf people not basing their lives on hearing people’s expectations.
“My grandfather, for example, was Deaf,” Rarus signed. “I come from a fourth-generation Deaf family, and so when the protests happened, my grandfather said, ‘Please respect your elders,’ referring to your elders but also to hearing people that were part of the elders. I thought, what the hell is going on? So after the protest, my grandfather said, ‘You were right.’ And so I was like, that has been the mindset for generations prior, and after seeing them, maybe it’s like, oh my gosh, there is so much more we can do in speaking power to Deaf people.”
Covell added: “One of the biggest perspectives that we as Deaf individuals face is from hearing people or non-Deaf people that we can’t do something. You can’t hear, that means you can’t do this, you can’t do that and all these other things that we’re unable to do, according to them. But really Deaf people can do anything, except, I will admit, that we probably should not ever take a job working as a 911 call center operator. That definitely we should not do, and that is appropriate. … In the movie we wanted to show Deaf people are very capable of doing so many things, and what they thought that we couldn’t do in the past, we have shown that we can. And we’ve done it and been successful at it, and now I think many different hearing people have changed their opinion to see that Deaf people can be successful. And we can take care of our own lives.”
Bourne-Firl has a couple takeaways that she’d like audience members to learn from the new documentary. To her, a Deaf person is like a member of any other minority group, and hearing individuals should not have pre-conceived notions.
“OK, so you can’t hear, so then you all assume that you can’t do this, you’re not intelligent enough to do this or that,” she explained. “What I’m hoping from this movie is that it changes the public perception to say and understand that there’s a variety of differences in Deaf people and different walks of life. … You have tall Deaf people. You have short. You have men. You have women. We’re exactly the same. You have highly professional, like Greg here who is a lawyer, and we’ve got Deaf people working in all different jobs, a variety of jobs. So I just hope the takeaway is understanding that Deaf people are just like any other community where we have lots of diversity, so don’t assume when you meet one Deaf person they’re all the same.”
Bourne-Firl has a particular message to parents who watch the Apple TV+ movie. She wants them to realize it’s perfectly OK to have a Deaf child, and she encourages them to learn more about the Deaf community. “Really focus on the communication with your Deaf child,” Bourne-Firl related. “I’m speaking to the hearing parents who may not know sign language and maybe don’t have any experience with Deafness at all. I hope the takeaway that they get after this movie is: It’s OK, [it’s] fine. I had a Deaf child, great. I’m just encouraging to learn sign language. Give them everything. Give everything that that Deaf child deserves.”
The co-directors of the movie are in agreement that the Gallaudet Four’s story of protest has a lot to offer people, especially in 2025. “I think historically we’ve seen stories from the disability and marginalized communities really erased, and those stories deserve to be told,” DiMarco added. “They are such an important part of our collective civil rights history that we learn about in grade school.”
Guggenheim summarized: “When we pitched this movie to Apple, Nyle and I we said this is the story of the greatest civil rights movement you’ve probably never heard of. It’s an incredible story. It’s a seat-of-your-pants story. What’s going to happen? Are these kids going to win? And when it happened at the time, the world it just blew their minds, and yet it’s been forgotten. And right now when we show the audiences, they say, ‘Boy, do we need this story right now,’ because you see collective action working, and that’s what’s so gratifying. And that’s why I think when people watch it, they’ll be so moved.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Deaf President Now!, directed by Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim, premieres Friday, May 16, on Apple TV+. Click here for more information.
