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Sir Robert Martin, a lifetime champion for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities and the first New Zealander with an intellectual disability to be knighted, has died in Whanganui.

Sir Robert who was diagnosed with a brain injury at birth, was involved with the self-advocacy movement for people with learning disabilities for more than 30 years.

He was a Life Member of People First New Zealand Ngā Tāngata Tuatahi, the national disabled persons organisation, originally set up by IHC.

He was the first person with an intellectual disability to be elected to a UN Human Rights Treaty Body in 2017, and the first to chair a meeting within a UN session in 2018. He also held roles with Inclusion International and was National Self Advocacy Advisor and Trainer for IHC New Zealand between 1991 and 2010.

His early years were spent in institutional care and Sir Robert said that he felt the presence of the people who he lived with in some of New Zealand’s grimmest institutions.

“I do because those people are really important to me. I have never forgotten my roots.”

In November 2019 Sir Robert gave evidence to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care about his own experiences of abuse and how he was made to feel he was nobody.

IHC Chief Executive Ralph Jones says that his contribution to the community was unequalled.

“I have known Sir Robert for many years and his achievements were remarkable. We served together for many years on the Council of Inclusion International. He made a real difference to the lives of people with disabilities both in New Zealand and overseas. It’s an incredible legacy.”

Sir Robert is survived by his wife Lynda.