Hello! 

My name is Taylor Sloan and you can use any pronouns for me. I live, work and study the area traditionally known as Amiskwaciy Waskahikan. My community is also known by the settler name Edmonton, Alberta. I am a descendent of settlers and my family (both biological and chosen) live across the lands of Treaty 6, Treaty 8 and the Peace and Friendship Treaties. 

I completed my Bachelor of Arts in 2022 from MacEwan University. I graduated with a double major in Sociology and History, after having bounced around various majors in the humanities and social sciences. Sociology was an early love for the lens it gave me to interrogate the competing forces of contingency and agency that shape society. The history of half of my degree was driven in equal parts by interest in the forces that have gotten us here, and the conviction that meaningful (and responsible) sociological work can not be done. Throughout my studies I became interested in the social processes through which deviance is constructed and controlled, and how oppression becomes justified by dominant social groups and classes. Towards the end of my degree I became very interested in the School-to-Prison pipeline. 

Since 2023 I have worked for a family-lead non-for-profit advocacy organization. We support individuals with intellectual disabilities and their families to access inclusive lives along normative life paths. Our work is heavily rooted in the movements of deinstitutionalization and community living.  Over the last two years my work has focused on supporting families of children with intellectual disabilities to access inclusive education in mainstream classes at their neighbourhood schools. I also support individuals and families in navigating resources and engaging in negotiations with PDD and FSCD for individualized funding. 

I am currently a graduate student in the Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies program at Athabasca University.  By the end of my studies I hope to undertake research focused on the intersection of the school-to-prison pipeline and the experiences of student with disabilities.