'A part of history': UNC student receives national award, champions disability rights

UNC first-year Kira Tiller was one of 10 young women to receive the 2024 Girls Leading Change honor from the White House Gender Policy Council this October.

Recipients were recognized by first lady Jill Biden for their work in leading change and “shaping a brighter future” within their communities at the award’s second annual ceremony at the White House, in honor of the International Day of the Girl.

Tiller was selected by the council for her efforts in advocating for disability rights legislation and helping students take action toward disability equity. 

Tiller is the executive director of Disabled Disrupters, which she said is a youth-led organization dedicated to fighting for accessibility and disability justice through legislative advocacy. Tiller said she founded Disabled Disrupters in 2023 because she has epilepsy and she noticed that there aren't many laws protecting disabled students in the case of an emergency, and none at the state level in Virginia, her home state. 

“This was something that was really important to me because I knew that if disabled students' emergency plans were not codified in [Individualized Education Plans] and 504 Plans, which are legally binding, they wouldn't be followed,” Tiller said.

She said she wrote and introduced a bill to the Virginia General Assembly in the 2024 session which would require all public schools to create individualized emergency procedure plans for students with an IEP or 504 Plan. 

Although the bill was not passed, she said the legislature will be reintroducing it in the 2025 session.

Disabled Disrupters is building a coalition of strong allies, including teacher unions, disability rights organizations and parental rights organizations to support the legislation and ensure it passes, Tiller said.

Delegate in the Virginia House of Delegates Laura Jane Cohen said she believes the bill is important because it concerns children's safety at school and she is glad Tiller and Disabled Disrupters are using their voices to make a difference in the world. 

“If we don't have the kind of advocacy and the kind of just zeal and zest that I think being a college student gives you, I think we'd be in big trouble,” Cohen said.

Disability and reproductive activist Leslie Templeton said she met Tiller when they were collaborating on gun violence prevention work. At the time, Tiller was the High School Democrats of America's Disabled Persons Caucus chair. 

“She was someone who was doing this work, not for notoriety or anything like that, just because she actually really cared about it," Templeton said.

Templeton said she nominated Tiller for the Girls Leading Change honor because of the disability advocacy and gun violence prevention work she has done, saying that there is a lack of recognition for disability activists and that she believes it is a way to propel young people who care about making change.

Tiller said the most special moment of her experience at the White House was when she was swarmed by a group of middle school girls from the Washington, D.C., area after the ceremony's press conference. She said she was able to answer their questions and offer them advice based on her experiences. 

“I felt like I got to be a part of history because you see all of these great rooms where great people did great things, and then you're standing there and you're being honored,” she said. “I really have no words to kind of describe that feeling, except that it was just a really inspiring and empowering experience.”

Tiller said she thinks the award validates the need for student advocacy and new legislation in disability rights, which she said was a national issue. She said that she hopes her becoming an honoree inspires other young people with disabilities to take action in their own communities.

“When I was first getting into the disability rights space, I felt very alone,” Tiller said. “I hope this shows other young, disabled change makers that they aren't alone and that there's a community for them that supports them.”

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