Robert Martin (disability rights activist)

Martin was born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 13 August 1957.{{cite web |url=https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/CRPD/Elections2020/CV_RGMartin.docx |title=Biographical data form of candidates to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities |website=OHCHR |access-date=25 September 2024}} A difficult birth resulted in a brain injury. As a baby he was sent to Kimberley Mental Deficiency Colony (later renamed the Kimberley Centre).{{cite book|last1=Hunt|first1=Anne|title=The Lost Years – From Levin Farm Mental Deficiency Colony to Kimberley Centre|date=2000|publisher=A. Hunt Nationwide Book Distributors|isbn=0-473-06755-2|page=Foreword and pg 350}}

Apart from brief periods living with his family and a failed attempt at fostering, Martin spent his childhood in institutions as a ward of the state. These institutions included Lake Alice Hospital (a psychiatric hospital) and Campbell Park School. In his biography, Martin describes inhumane conditions and abuse in these institutions{{cite web|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/life/63854914/exorcising-demons-of-a-damaged-past |title=Exorcising demons of a damaged past |date=4 December 2014 |publisher=Stuff.co.nz |access-date=31 August 2015}} which he would later campaign to close.{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=215100 |title=Four-year plan for disabled – National – NZ Herald News |publisher=Nzherald.co.nz |access-date=31 August 2015}}

In 1972, Martin was released from care and returned to Whanganui. For a short while he lived with his parents but the relationship was characterised by violence and unhappiness. Over several years, Martin lived and worked in the care of IHC New Zealand, an advocacy and care organisation for people with intellectual disabilities in New Zealand. During this period, Martin began educating himself, often through books he stole. He became involved in activities to break down barriers for people with learning disabilities, including protests and non co-operation with carers. He organised a strike of intellectually disabled farm-workers.{{cite book|last1=McRae|first1=John|title=Becoming a Person: the biography of Robert Martin|date=2014|publisher=Craig Potton|isbn=9781927213193}}

By the time he was in his mid-twenties, Martin was playing a leading role in the disability rights organisation People First. He held office at regional and national level, and in 1993 travelled to Canada to represent New Zealand at a People First conference. Shortly after this, Martin participated in the writing of The Beliefs, Values, and Principles of Self-Advocacy.{{cite book|title=The beliefs, values and principles of self-advocacy.|date=1996|publisher=Brookline Books|location=Cambridge, Mass.|isbn=9781571290229}}

In the mid 1990s, Martin was appointed to the staff of IHC as a travelling advocate in New Zealand. His role was to promote self-advocacy among people with disabilities and to build public understanding that would enable the movement of people with intellectual disabilities from institutions into the community.{{cite book|last1=Millen|first1=Julia|title=Breaking Barriers IHC's first 50 years|date=1999|publisher=IHC New Zealand (Inc)|pages=95–96|isbn=1-877-242-063}}

Martin also travelled overseas extensively for Inclusion International, promoting self-advocacy. He became a council member of Inclusion International and in 2003 was appointed Inclusion International's representative on the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee "to consider proposals for a comprehensive and integral international convention to promote and protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities".{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=1423 |title=UN Enable – Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities |publisher=Un.org |access-date=30 August 2015}} For a period, Martin was the only person with a learning disability involved in the UN proceedings, participating particularly in discussions around the status of families (Preamble X of the convention) and the right of people with disabilities to live in the community (Article 19).{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}

In 2016, Martin made history as the first person with a learning disability elected onto a United Nations treaty body, when he was elected to the Committee for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. His first term on the committee ran from 2017 to 2020.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/health/2016/06/robert-martins-historic-election-to-un-disabilities-committee.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417164250/http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/health/2016/06/robert-martins-historic-election-to-un-disabilities-committee.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 April 2017|title=Robert Martin's historic election to UN disabilities committee|newspaper=Newshub |access-date=31 December 2019|via=www.newshub.co.nz}} Then-New Zealand Disability Rights Commissioner, Paul Gibson, said "Robert Martin hasn't just smashed through a glass ceiling, he's smashed through the ceiling and walls of institutions that locked him away for most of his early years. Every New Zealander can be proud of his incredible achievement today."{{Cite web|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11656852|title=New Zealander's historic appointment to the United Nations|date=14 June 2016|access-date=31 December 2019|via=www.nzherald.co.nz}} In November 2020, he was re-elected to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for another term.

In 2014, a biography of Martin was published and he was featured in a television documentary series.{{cite web|url=http://inclusion-international.org/robert-martin-documentary/ |title=Robert Martin Documentary |publisher=Inclusion-international.org |date=14 April 2014 |access-date=31 August 2015}} The Robert Martin Self Advocate Leader Award is awarded by himself at the annual Having a Say Conference in Australia, to the participant whose self-advocacy impresses him most.{{cite report |url=http://www.valid.org.au/conference/has_report.pdf |title=Having a Say Conference Report |year=2015 |page=14 |access-date=31 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170219020629/http://www.valid.org.au/conference/has_report.pdf |archive-date=19 February 2017 |url-status=dead }} Martin lived in Whanganui with his wife Lynda.{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wanganui-chronicle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503426&objectid=11356440 |title=Fighting hard for rights of those with disabilities – Wanganui Chronicle – Wanganui Chronicle News |publisher=Nzherald.co.nz |access-date=31 August 2015}} He died in Whanganui on 30 April 2024.{{cite news |url=https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/05/01/disability-rights-advocate-sir-robert-martin-dies/ |title=Disability rights advocate Sir Robert Martin dies |date=1 May 2024 |work=1News |access-date=2 May 2024}}

In the 2008 New Year Honours, Martin was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to people with disabilities.{{cite web | url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2008 | title=New Year honours list 2008 |date=31 December 2007 | publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | access-date=31 December 2019}} He was promoted to Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2020 New Year Honours, also for services to people with disabilities.{{cite web | url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2020 | title=New Year honours list 2020 |date=31 December 2019 | publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | access-date=31 December 2019}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160216055806/http://attitudelive.com/documentary/robert-martin-peoples-advocate Television documentary about Robert Martin]

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Category:1957 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:New Zealand disability rights activists

Category:People from Whanganui

Category:Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Category:People with brain injuries

Category:New Zealand activists with disabilities

Category:21st-century New Zealand public servants