Will Fertman

Will Fertman

@willfertman.com

Father and author of The Deaf Baby Instruction Manual, available now from Bloomsbury Academic: https://is.gd/0FoT5z All opinions are my own. More opinions at: https://willfertman.com - https://buttondown.com/will_fertman

1.1K followers3.1K following2.1K posts

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

Can I just say what a golden age we live in when I'm genuinely excited about the NANCY HALLOWEEN ARC?

caroline cash@cashbrowns.bsky.social

nancy’s halloween arc starts tomorrow. it’s a crazy one LOL

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

Titicut Follies...

Marianne Dhenin@mariannedhe.bsky.social

Massachusetts is unsealing records of generations of disabled people and the violence many faced while institutionalized. Advocates told me their stories should serve as warnings to us as demands to return to institutionalization are ramping up under Trump 2.0.

newsletter.mariannedhenin.comMassachusetts Unseals Records of Abuse of Disabled People in State InstitutionsThe state is baring the history of generations of disabled people and the violence many faced while institutionalized.
Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

Every single conversation with the younger one these days.

SMBC Comics@smbccomics.bsky.social

I heard you like family slice-of-life comics, Internet! COMIC ◆ www.smbc-comics.com/comic/order-3 PATREON ◆ www.patreon.com/ZachWeinersm... STORE ◆ smbc-store.myshopify.com

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

My youngest does about the same.

Katie Slivensky@kslivensky.bsky.social

My youngest falls asleep each night under a pile of books surrounded by the purple canopy netting he picked himself, his head resting on an absolutely enormous unicorn plushie bigger than himself, and his rainbow reading light still on. I can't give him a perfect world. And yet, right now? I can.

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

(It was only bad news because I've wanted to do my triumphal library selfie, but honestly it's better that someone's reading it! May it never be on the shelf!)

Will Fertman reposted

Rafa Sales Ross
@rafiews.com

Replying to @rafiews.com

There is blatant voter suppression happening right now in Brazil: flights cancelled and buses suspended to Northeastern capitals where Lula holds the majority, polling stations changed to thousands of kms away last-minute, voters in London told they need to go to Edinburgh… This is criminal.

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

This is because when you, a Lady Author, go to a school, you are performing Women’s Work, which pays poorly. On the other hand, when I do literally anything having to do with children, I am going above and beyond my Man’s Role and need extensive recognition and compensation.

Katie Slivensky@kslivensky.bsky.social

Me, goes to school, does author presentation, often free of charge, the library doesn't even have my book, parents never learn I even came. Dude author, goes to same school, huge welcome banner, school plasters photos all over socials, does big book signing, fawning!! This happens so, so often.

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

This double standard is everywhere that kids are. Women are there “naturally,” while we men are gracing you with our presence.

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

Fits neatly with this new study out of @uconn.bsky.social: Early ASL means on-track math development for our deaf kids. If California invested even 1% of this effort into getting infants started with sign language, we'd be in a whole different world.

today.uconn.eduAccess to ASL from Birth Supports Childhood Math Proficiency in Deaf Children, UConn Researcher Finds in First-of-its-Kind Study - UConn Today'If you compare hearing kids learning spoken English from their parents at home to deaf kids learning ASL from their parents at home, those kids are in ...
UC Berkeley@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social

New research at UC Berkeley found that major California initiatives to improve early-childhood education had a dramatic effect — improving student achievement and narrowing the gap between children from higher-income families and lower-income families. bit.ly/4yGoUbo

bit.lyCalifornia’s investment in early education brought dramatic improvement in learning, study finds - Berkeley NewsGains by students who went through the state’s prekindergarten programs in the 2010s were still evident in third and fourth grades, says a new study from UC Berkeley researchers.
Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

I have mixed feelings about prank show activism—I think Ben Palmer does some of the best stuff in the US, but it has limits and stingers embedded into it as a political strategy. But I'd be interested to see how this "docu-prank" hybrid works, with the added Aktion T4 coverage. #eugenics

Frances Ryan@francesryan.bsky.social

My review of The Experiment is now the most read article on the whole of The Guardian website. It is genuinely one of the most shocking, disturbing, and timely things I’ve ever watched. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

theguardian.comThe Experiment review – easily the most disturbing thing on TVAs members of the public tour a fake ‘residential home’ for disabled people riddled with Nazi ideology, you desperately hope someone will speak up. Prepare for the most excruciating viewing of your li...
Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

Curious, though, how much in the show was done to link it to the record of eugenic practices in the UK. It's one thing to blame it on the Nazis, and another to link it to living history. Obviously, the format implicates modern Britain, but I'm still wondering if that's enough...

Will Fertman reposted

SEIU_ORG
@seiu.org

CA state workers are taking a historic stand to protest unfair practices! From nurses to IT pros across the state, they keep California running, and they’re demanding pay that keeps up so they can afford to live where they serve ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

A total master of the form!

Marcia Parks@mzparks.bsky.social

Remembering Crockett Johnson, pen name of David Johnson Leisk, best known for the comic strip, "Barnaby," and for "Harold and the Purple Crayon," as well as its sequels. He also collaborated with his wife, Ruth Krause, on four other books. #childrensbooks #kidlit #kidlitart #picturebooks

Will Fertman reposted

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD
@elizabethjacobs.bsky.social

It is a devastating and shameful set of circumstances that the police force in Guinea-Bissau, one of the poorest counties in the world, has had to take action to stop a predatory, unethical experiment on infants from being done by Danish scientists who are funded by the US—and Bill Ackman.

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Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

I joke, but both the no-contact trend in the wider world and its older cousin in deaf/hearing families comes from forms of abuse that have been recognized by professionals for decades, but which have been either invisible or trivialized until very recently in American culture.

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

As is often the case, it takes multiple generations to move from recognizing a problem, to paying it lip-service, to acting in real ways to solve these problems. I feel like the "hearing parents don't learn sign" thing is now on that third step...

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Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

But there are even higher-level meta-resentments that I see with the deaf children of oralist parents: Feeling like you weren't worth learning sign for. Feeling like you were kept from community for selfish reasons. Feeling constant pressure to "be normal."

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

Learning ASL isn't a panacea for parents; you've still got to actually, y'know, raise your child. This isn't simple, but staying away from that foundational mistake means that at least you'll know why you weren't invited to your Deaf kid's 7-apex Wiccan furry polycule handfasting in 2045.

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

SO MUCH oralist rhetoric boils down to "If you teach your child ASL, you'll lose them to the terrible Deafs." As an imperfect father (and mediocre signer) I would like to stake my position clearly: we want our kids to go no-contact because of our personality disorders, not lack of language.

Will Fertman
@willfertman.com

Language deprivation is going to make for tough family relationships to start with—even if (especially if) it sabotages your kid's independence. And if it doesn't, dinner table syndrome very well might—there's no better reason to go low-or-no contact with fam if you don't get anything FROM contact.

Will Fertman reposted

Josh Marshall
@joshtpm.bsky.social

👇 spread this news far and wide

Ezra Levin ❌👑@ezralevin.bsky.social

❗❗❗Mark Zuckerberg's meta just suspended the No Kings Instagram account. I just rushed back from my local No Kings to jump on this. Bottom line, would be helpful for all pro-No Kings folks to elevate the issue and help us get the word out about No Kings today. The Nerd Reich strikes again.

Will Fertman reposted

Ezra Levin ❌👑
@ezralevin.bsky.social

❗❗❗Mark Zuckerberg's meta just suspended the No Kings Instagram account. I just rushed back from my local No Kings to jump on this. Bottom line, would be helpful for all pro-No Kings folks to elevate the issue and help us get the word out about No Kings today. The Nerd Reich strikes again.