Mia Benjamin is 20 years old and from Glasgow. She is part of the LGBTQ+ community and has numerous chronic illnesses. Mia’s work revolves around youth mental health policy and disability activism, rooted in her belief that no young person in Scotland should go without support. Her passion is for health policies to support young people to live healthy, happy, and supported lives where they are given the opportunities to thrive and have a voice in the policy decisions that affect them.

In Mia’s first year at the University of Glasgow, she founded and became the President of the Disabled Students’ Society, bringing together disabled students in a safe and supportive community. She has gone on to amass over 460 volunteering hours in the past three years of leading the society through social events and educational awareness campaigns. This society was nominated for three awards in its first 2 years of foundation and has been consulted by numerous students and staff members who seek to make their classes and social events more accessible.

In 2025, Mia ran 7 events throughout Disability History Month to teach others about life with a disability, foster a community, and push for disabled students to be included in social events outside the classroom. This included hosting a screening of “I Swear” and a panel with key disability activists about life in Scotland with a disability. 

When Mia is not running her own society, she acts as the welfare officer for the University of Glasgow’s LGBTQ+ society, and helps co-chair projects with the Mental Health Foundation and Leaders Unlocked revolving around young people’s lives. This has seen her invited to political conferences to deliver talks on Covid-19’s effects on young people, speak to executives from Pinterest and the Department of Education, and help create resources to further the work of researchers working with young people.