Multi-Handicapped

A compassionate portrait of students at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, directed by Frederick Wiseman.

Filmed at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, Multi-Handicapped focuses on students and their teachers, dormitory parents and counsellors at the Helen Keller School. As they collectively navigate the daily routines of self-care, work and recreation, Frederick Wiseman’s intelligent and compassionate gaze encourages us to ponder questions of equality and independence.

Multi-handicapped was the first of four films about disabilities made by Wiseman at the same institute in the 1980s. It was followed by Deaf (1986), Adjustment and Work (1986), and Blind (1987).