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Will Fertman

@willfertman.com

960 followers 3K following 940 posts

Father and author of The Deaf Baby Instruction Manual, coming April 2026 from Bloomsbury Academic. https://willfertman.com - https://buttondown.com/will_fertman All opinions are my own. Links are not endorsements.

willfertman.com

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · Nov 17

For hearing parents out there with #deafkids —and I can't believe I'm the first one to use that hashtag here—here's some resources that appear in my upcoming book.

Good baby books to sign, #ASL media for kids, Deaf-made apparel, helpful orgs and docs for IEPs, etc. willfertman.com/resources-fo...

resources for parents – William Fertman, author

willfertman.com

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 8m

They're not "now moving on to..." Folks with #disabilities have been at the top of the hit list since Trump took office. It's not a contest—the cuts to USAID are monstrous and bigoted—but I want to point out that they saw it coming, warned us, and were mostly ignored. bsky.app/profile/novi...

Sara Nović @novicsara.bsky.social · Mar 27

Thanks so much to @theguardian.com for having me, and especially @estelletang.bsky.social for her fastidious edits. www.theguardian.com/global/2025/...

The US right is coming for disabled people. Here’s why that threatens everyone

Trump’s administration is dismantling disability rights and education. History has shown this can be a warning sign for all civil liberties

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Will Fertman

Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 14h

Slashing special ed staff in the Department of Education and gutting public health agencies is what you do if you are a straight-up eugenicist.

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 5h

And here's one on OSERS, for adults with disabilities and their families: adayinourshoes.com/osers/

OSERS Has Been Dismantled: What This Means for Disabled Adults and Their Families.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) has been gutted in recent federal cuts. Learn what this means for vocational rehab, transition services, and how families can protec...

adayinourshoes.com

Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 5h

Here's a good first pass on what parents of #deafkids and other kids with disabilities should know and should be doing in the wake of the OESP firings: adayinourshoes.com/osep/ ♿

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Reposted by Will Fertman

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 9h

My parents were Republicans because George H.W Bush signed the Americans with Disabilites Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. A generation of people with disabilities went to college, got jobs and lived independently because of IDEA.
abcnews.go.com/Politics/spe...

Special education staff decimated after Trump administration shutdown firings: Sources

The nation’s special education services have been significantly damaged after Fridays’s mass layoffs within the Department of Education, sources told ABC News.

abcnews.go.com

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 12h

On the district level, bigoted LEAs are going to run hog wild now that oversight is gone.

On the federal level, does anyone think that eugenicists DON'T blame parents for having children with disabilities?

Sara Nović @novicsara.bsky.social · 14h

A lot of parents about to learn that their nondisabled privileges do not extend to their kid no matter how much they attempt to make said kid's disability about them
... and also that your IEP's LEA was not in fact operating out of the goodness of their heart in providing supports. 💀

Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 1d

The destruction of oversight is clear and deliberate. There's at least one district I know about that has started refusing services to kids illegally, relying on the enforcement systems to be broken at the federal level.

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

www.usatoday.com

Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 1d

Parents of #deafkids, this is the moment that’s been cooking since Trump got elected.

Thinking Person's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism.com · 1d

WTF: "An Education Department staffer told USA TODAY the agency laid off just about every employee who works to administer funding for IDEA, the primary federal law supporting students with disabilities. He was unsure how those programs will exist moving forward."

www.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

Education Department wipes out special ed office in shutdown layoffs, union says

The Education Department laid off nearly everyone at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.

www.usatoday.com

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 2d

Lockdown was a real experience.

Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 2d

Strictly by semaphore or gorillagram, I’m sure.

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 2d

Boo I say, boo.

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Reposted by Will Fertman

Nathan Young @nydeafswimmer.bsky.social · 3d

For over 4 YEARS I have campaigned to our Government to END the DISCRIMINATION of #deaf #athletes. On Tuesday 14th October 2025 I will sit before the Culture, Media & Sport Select Committee alongside my life long friend & now team mate Henry & #UKDeafSport to share my story & my hope for the future

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 4d

The loss of the public school system would send Deaf education back to the absolute dark ages. #deafkids #deafed

Jennifer Smith Richards @jsmithrichards.bsky.social · 4d

To understand the Trump administration’s vision for American education, @megomatz.bsky.social and I studied dozens of hours of political appointees’ speeches and podcasts and essays. What emerged is a desire to dismantle the nation’s system of public schools.

These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.

Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...

www.propublica.org

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 4d

"If we can't fully control this, we totally oppose this."

Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 4d

You mean like their loathesome anti-LEAD-K advocacy pages? www.asha.org/Advocacy/LEA...

Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids (LEAD-K)

Language Equality and Acquisition for Deaf Kids (LEAD-K) is a national effort to pass state legislation that ensures that children who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) have access to language and ar...

www.asha.org

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 4d

Kim Ofori-Sanzo was involved with trying to get ASHA to create a cert-track for dhh treatments, but they killed it at the last minute over requirements that therapists be skilled signers, leading her to co-found the American Board of DHH specialists w/ Leah Geer and others. www.dhhspecialists.org

American Board of DHH Specialists

www.dhhspecialists.org

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 4d

My understanding about SLP certification is that part of the cert is expressly spoken language and they refuse to waive it, severely limiting the number of Deaf folks who can qualify. Rhys McGovern is the only Deaf SLP I know about…

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Reposted by Will Fertman

Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund @dredf.bsky.social · 19d

We denounce any and all efforts by the Administration to deny our existence as we are now. We are whole, we are human, and we are with you. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Disgust, horror, and "elimination": Trump and RFK Jr.'s eugenicist autism conference

The most striking omission from Monday's White House pageant: autistic people.

www.motherjones.com

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 4d

As an aside, why doesn't Language First have a bsky presence? This banger is from back in 2019. language1st.org

Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 4d

A follow up on yesterday's parent-teacher conference. #deafkids #deafed ♿

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Reposted by Will Fertman

alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 4d

kinda sweet that bookshop.org's anti-prime sale overlaps with banned books week, which means today you can get free shipping PLUS 20% off their banned books list! bookshop.org/info/banned-...

Banned Books

bookshop.org

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Reposted by Will Fertman

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 4d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 5d

Contributes to juvenile delinquency it does.

Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 5d

How my wife described yesterday's parent-teacher conference for our #deafkid:

"Our 2nd grader is reading at a 5th grade level, and he's in the 89th percentile for math. Dang, all that ASL exposure is really messing him up."

#ASL #deafed ♿

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Will Fertman @willfertman.com · 5d

Appropriately enough, my kid's fight over this book was epic.