John O'Brien (advocate)

John O'Brien is a leading thinker who has written widely in the field of disability. He is a pioneer and lifelong advocate of Person Centred Planning. His values based approach emphasises learning with each person about the direction their lives could take, challenging and overcoming practices, structures and values that lead to segregation and underestimation rather than inclusion, and an approach to change in people's lives based on 'imagining better'. His thinking is based on Social Role Valorisation and the Social model of disability. He is an Associate Editor of Mental Retardation, and on the Advisory Boards of the Georgia Advocacy Office and Georgia PASS.