Centering Access: Reimagining Basic Writing Through Critical Disability Frameworks

Authors

• Jason Burton McCormick, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Rachael Shah

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Committee Members

Ada Hubrig, Amanda Morales, Shari Stenberg, Stacey Waite

Department

English

Date of this Version

4-29-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Citation

A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy

Major: English

Under the supervision of Professor Rachael Shah

Lincoln, Nebraska, May 2026

Comments

Copyright 2026, Jason Burton McCormick. Used by permission

Abstract

Despite decades of scholarship arguing otherwise, developmental writing spaces are still often treated as places of deficit in higher education. This deficit positioning emerges in the ways the courses are discussed (as barriers and burdens to graduation), the way learners are imagined (being “unprepared” for college work), and the way placement is understood as punishment. Developmental educators continue to fight this stigma, but rely on stories of students “overcoming” rather than acknowledging that the stigma is a product of the institution and its discriminatory norms, not the offering itself.

My work reimagines the developmental writing classroom as an essential liminal space that can be centered in access. Marginal spaces are interesting because they form the boundaries of an institution and paths of entry from the outside inward may emerge. Traditional approaches to access in developmental education have been limited and conditional, demanding the student conform to norms in order to remain. For the last several years, I’ve been trying to reimagine what basic writing might be when imagined through frameworks of Critical Disability Studies and using practices inspired by the disability justice movement. These intersectional movements are ideal for this reimagining because it demands we move beyond the limited, conditional forms of access currently offered toward something more embracive, empowering, and reaffirming for those of us standing outside of the norm.

Recommended Citation

McCormick, Jason Burton, "Centering Access: Reimagining Basic Writing Through Critical Disability Frameworks" (2026). Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–. 481.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissunl/481