“Deaf President Now!" premieres globally on May 16, a real turning point for Apple TV+.

Courtesy of Apple TV+

“Deaf people are not ready to function in a hearing world”, states Jane Basset Spillman, the chair of Gallaudet University’s board of trustees. Sign language takes time, patience, and a fine line of compassion from those wanting to learn one of the most important languages of our time. What happens when politics comes into play, leading to the hiring of the wrong front for progression, a hearing person with no sign-language skills? The over 100-year-old university was founded by an act of Congress signed by Abraham Lincoln. The peaceful but angry eruption took place at a time that just preceded the Americans With Disabilities Act. The deaf community at Gallaudet was ready for a deaf president.

“Deaf President Now!” is the story of the greatest civil rights movement most people have never heard of. During eight tumultuous days in 1988 at the world’s only Deaf university, four students must find a way to lead an angry mob to change the course of history. Directed by deaf advocate Nyle DiMarco and Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”), “Deaf President Now!”—the rallying cry of the rebellion—recounts the week of protests, walkouts, boycotts and a physical lockdown of the campus by its students that followed the appointment of Elisabeth Zinser, a hearing person who rather awkwardly offered to learn how to sign once she got the job. This only exacerbated the sense among Gallaudet students that they were being patronized, yet again.

This must-watch is the groundbreaking question that enlists the differences and indifferences our country has held for generations. As with this, does this present a message of change, and is it powerful enough to regenerate a new message based on the meaning of “All” and/or “Equality for all”? Apple TV+ is your personal way of finding out. Streaming on May 16th.

For more of Chris and Will listen to their podcast “What About Our Life?” on your iHeartRadio app or by visiting their official website at chrisandwill.com.