John O'Brien

John O'Brien was a leading thinker who has written widely in the field of disability. He died on Friday 27th June, 2025. He was a pioneer and lifelong advocate of Person Centred Planning. To this end, he was co-developer of two models for person centred planning, namely the McGill Action Planning System (MAPS) and Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope (PATH). 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 was an associate editor of Mental Retardation, and on the advisory boards of the Georgia Advocacy Office and Georgia PASS. With Herbert Lovett, O'Brien co-wrote “Finding A Way Toward Everyday Lives,” a paper cited by others in the disabilities field as a significant reference point in the early development of person-centered planning.