The final installment in Wiseman's four-part series filmed at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, Multi-Handicapped focuses on students with sensory disabilities at the Helen Keller School. The film captures therapy sessions, personal care procedures, staff meetings, and interactions among residents with physical, cognitive, and developmental disabilities. Wiseman's camera reveals the labor of care, institutional rhythms, and moments of tenderness and frustration as staff and residents navigate their structured world, presenting a detailed portrait of disability, dependency, and dignity.

 Part of Frederick Wiseman’s four-film series on disability including Deaf (1986), Blind (1986), and Adjustment and Work (1986), Multi-Handicapped focuses on students at the Helen Keller School within the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. These students face multiple sensory impairments, and the film captures the daily challenges of learning tasks most of us take for granted.

Wiseman’s camera lingers on the slow, deliberate process of teaching such basic skills, revealing both the difficulty and the extraordinary care it requires. In doing so, the film broadens his inquiry into the larger field of special education and immerses us in the students’ lived reality, prompting a visceral understanding of the obstacles they confront each day.

Multi-Handicapped also deepens one of Wiseman’s recurring themes: the relationship between space, the body, and communication. His attentive observation of gestures, postures, and interpersonal exchanges underscores that his camera is never a passive witness. Instead, it actively engages with its subjects, uncovering the subtle ways human connection is forged even in the most challenging circumstances.

• ProducerFrederick WISEMAN
• Cinematography John DAVEY
• Edit Frederick WISEMAN
• Sound Frederick WISEMAN

Zipporah Films​​