Māori disability leader appointed Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit
A leading Māori advocate for disabled children, whānau and disability rights has been recognised in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours.
Ronelle Kiterangi Baker has been appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for services to children and people living with disabilities.
Mrs Baker, who whakapapa to Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Apakua, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāpuhi and Ngātiwai, has spent decades working across disability, health, governance and child advocacy sectors.
Her work has been shaped not only by professional expertise, but by lived experience with muscular dystrophy.
That lived experience has informed a career focused on ensuring disabled people, particularly children and young people, are heard in the systems designed to support them.
A strong voice for mokopuna whaikaha
Mrs Baker is nationally recognised for her advocacy for people living with disabilities, especially tamariki and rangatahi.
From 2023 to 2025, she served as a Commissioner and Board member for Mana Mokopuna – Children and Young People’s Commission, helping establish the Commission and implement legislative changes.
In that role, she worked closely with the Chief Children’s Commissioner to strengthen the Commission’s focus on mokopuna whaikaha, young people living with disabilities.
Her contribution helped ensure the voices and needs of disabled children were not treated as an afterthought, but placed at the centre of child wellbeing and rights advocacy.
For many whānau, that work is critical.
Disabled tamariki often face overlapping barriers in health, education, housing, transport and access to support.
For Māori disabled children, those barriers can be compounded by inequities across public systems and the need for culturally grounded support.
Mrs Baker’s work has consistently pushed institutions to better understand those realities.
Governance shaped by lived experience
Mrs Baker has held several senior governance and leadership roles across the disability sector.
She has served as Chief Executive of the Muscular Dystrophy Association of New Zealand, bringing lived experience and strategic leadership to a national organisation supporting people with neuromuscular conditions.
She has also been a member of the Auckland Council Disability Advisory Group and a Trustee of Te Roopu Waiora Trust, a kaupapa Māori disability organisation supporting whānau hauā.
From 2022 to 2024, she chaired Spectrum Care, where her advocacy helped shape governance decisions so the organisation better reflected the disabled people and whānau it served.
Her approach has emphasised that disabled people must not only receive services, but help design, govern and evaluate them.
A Māori lens on disability
A defining feature of Mrs Baker’s work has been her commitment to Māori perspectives within disability advocacy.
She has consistently advocated for approaches that recognise whānau, whakapapa, tikanga and tino rangatiratanga.
For many Māori disabled people, mainstream disability systems can feel disconnected from cultural identity and whānau realities.
Mrs Baker’s leadership has helped challenge that gap.
She is currently Kaihautū Chief Advisor Māori for Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People, where she contributes to national disability policy through a Māori lens.
Her role sits at the intersection of disability rights, Māori development and public service reform.
Service across health, community and justice
Mrs Baker’s service has also extended into wider public and community sectors.
She has worked in the Child, Women and Family Services division of Waitematā District Health Board, the Community Empowerment Unit at Auckland Council, and Statistics New Zealand Tatauranga Aotearoa.
She currently serves on the Board of Community Law Marlborough, continuing her commitment to access, rights and equity.
Across those roles, her work has remained grounded in the belief that disabled people and their whānau deserve dignity, voice and meaningful participation.
Recognition at a critical time
Mrs Baker’s honour comes at a time when disability issues remain at the forefront of national debate.
Disabled New Zealanders continue to face barriers in housing, transport, education, employment and healthcare.
For Māori disabled people and their whānau, inequities are often deeper and more complex.
Advocates have repeatedly called for stronger recognition of whaikaha Māori, better access to culturally appropriate support, and greater involvement of disabled people in decision-making.
Mrs Baker’s appointment as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit recognises decades of work in exactly those areas.
A legacy of advocacy and mana
For Māori communities, the honour is a recognition of a leader who has carried the voices of mokopuna whaikaha, disabled people and whānau into spaces where decisions are made.
Her career demonstrates the power of lived experience, Māori leadership and governance grounded in service.
As Aotearoa continues to confront the challenges facing disabled people, Mrs Baker’s work stands as a reminder that advocacy is not only about policy.
It is about mana.
It is about whānau.
And it is about ensuring disabled tamariki and rangatahi are seen, heard and valued.
Ngā mihi nui ki a Ronelle Kiterangi Baker mō tōna mahi nui mō ngā mokopuna whaikaha me te hapori whaikaha whānui.
