SPEECH: Becoming a Person
Tariana Turia
Whanganui District Council Chamber
Thursday 11 December 2014

It is exactly six months to the day that I announced that Robert Martin will be New Zealand’s candidate in 2016 for the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

It was one of my last actions as Minister for Disability Issues and I couldn’t have been prouder.

This is a person who has achieved global recognition through his lifelong commitment to the rights of disabled people worldwide.

Robert, more than any other New Zealander, put our nation on the world map during negotiations between 2006 to 2008 in the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

While some were prepared to talk about disabled persons, for and on their behalf, Robert looked the audience in the eye, told his story, and in doing so helped bring the voice of millions to the global stage.

He has truly become a person in every sense of the world.

The biography is a curious mix of great sadness and enormous hope.

His experiences in residential care were harrowing; the impact of abuse is never far from the surface. There are scenes of horrific violence; of abject misery; of piercing loneliness.

And yet there is a spirit of resilience which helps to give us a glimpse of promise for tomorrow.

In one part in the book Robert speaks slowly, hands fluttering as he tries to explain the unexplainable.

“I don’t blame the family. I was a victim of circumstance. Even the Kimberley stuff, I don’t blame the staff I blame society and how it was then.

In that one section I believe Robert offers us all another way of understanding the disabling attitudes and behaviours of our past; and in doing so he helps us frame a new future.

On the cover of this book, we see Robert’s broad smile with the caption, “how an intellectually disabled New Zealander helped change the world”.

There are a couple of meanings to this.

One of course, is through the self-advocacy movement he had led for over 25 years at local, national and international level. He has been part of Inclusion International, and was appointed vice chair of the International Self-advocacy committee as well as having been a keynote speaker at many international conferences.

That he has been remarkably successful – a world leader – is without doubt.

But there is another meaning that I want to talk about – and that is how he has changed all of our worlds through his attitude of optimism; his relentless courage and his determination to be the best he can be.

In this way – Robert’s story – and more importantly Robert himself – act as a source of rich inspiration to all of us about how we can live our life to the full.

He has told a powerful story about identity; about voice; about connection.

He has spoken up and out.

He challenges society to do better.

He has been critical about those who think they need to make decisions on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities.

He has advocated against physical and sexual abuse.

And above all he has been clear about the importance of relationships, the love of families, and the calling to follow your dreams.

In the United Nations Convention that Robert helped to draft of particular note is Article 10, th recognition that disabled persons have the most basic right, the right to life.

In Becoming a Person we learn about so many experiences in which Robert was deprived in numerous ways of the human rights that he was entitled to.

For many people that life history might become too big a barrier to overcome.

But instead Robert and his wife Lynda are living every moment of life at its fullest expression – whether it is on the soccer field, playing Golden Oldie Rugby or speaking right across the world about independent living and support decision making.

His speaking circuit is staggering –India, Holland, Chile, Mexico, England, America.

But always, there is no place like home.

And in this way, Robert has come full circle.

Home is no longer a place of fear or difficulty.

Home is where the heart is – and for all of us here tonight, we can be so pleased that it is Whanganui that benefits from his inspiration; his leadership and his friendship.

There can be no greater pleasure than to officially welcome Robert’s story into the world of print.

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