Sir Robert Martin, KNZM, for services to people with disabilities
Sir Robert Martin has been involved with the self-advocacy movement for people with learning (intellectual) disabilities and has represented their rights and interests at a national and international level for more than 30 years. Sir Robert is currently serving a four year term as an independent expert on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In 2018 he was the first person with a learning disability to chair a meeting within a UN session, having been the first person with a learning disability to be elected onto a UN Human Rights Treaty Body the year prior. He is a Life Member of People First New Zealand, which he helped found in the 1980s, and has held a number of leadership roles within the organisation. He has been a member of the National Assembly of People with Disabilities, and Chair of the Frozen Funds Committee. He has been the People First representative for the Ministry of Health Consumer Consortium. He is often a keynote speaker at annual Leadership Forums run by People First New Zealand around the country. He was a member of the Whanganui Regional Disability Strategy Reference Group from 2010 to 2011. Sir Robert held roles within Inclusion International and was National Self Advocacy Advisor and Trainer for IHC New Zealand between 1991 and 2010.