Date of Award:

8-2025

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

English

Committee Chair(s)

Jared Colton

Committee

Jared Colton

Committee

Chen Chen

Committee

rylish moeller

Committee

Lisa Gabbert

Committee

Peter Howe

Committee

Caroline Gottschalk Druschke

Abstract

This research asks a simple but powerful question: what happens when we plan for the environment using the same standards we use to judge bodies—like being efficient, independent, or "normal?" Focusing on Bear Lake, a large natural lake that has been turned into an artificial reservoir on the Utah–Idaho border, this dissertation shows how ideas rooted in ableism—biases against disability and dependence—have shaped how the lake is managed, valued, and talked about. It draws from disability studies and communication research to reveal how environmental decisions often assume that both people and landscapes should function in specific, "productive" ways.

By analyzing the lake's planning history, government documents, interviews, and public feedback, the project finds that these hidden assumptions influence everything from how problems are defined to what kinds of solutions are considered valid. For example, if a shoreline becomes too weedy or unpredictable, it's often treated as a failure to stay "normal." But not all change, not all "abnormalities," signal degradation. This work shows how rethinking what counts as "normal" can help us build more flexible, fair, and inclusive approaches to caring for places like Bear Lake—especially in a time of rapid environmental change.

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