John O'Brien

John William O'Brien died peacefully at his home in Lithonia, Georgia, on June 27, 2025.

John dedicated his life to creating, sustaining, and advocating communities that support every person. He consulted with people with disabilities, their families and allies, advocacy groups, service providers, and governments all over the world.

While he always emphasized the importance of inclusion and the priority of human beings over institutions and rules, he built a long list of professional connections over his seven-decade career. John was a Fellow of the Centre for Welfare Reform (UK) and was affiliated with the Center on Human Policy, Law and Disability, Syracuse University (US), InControl Partnerships (UK) and the Marsha Forest Centre (Canada). John taught at the Emory University School of Medicine and many Universities around the world, including McGill University in Montreal, Quebec; York University in Toronto, Ontario. Keio University in Tokyo (where -he was delighted to report-his lecture was in such demand that it would not fit in the school's facility and his hosts had to rent a Sumo Arena).

John contributed influential ideas to the fields of disability support and disability studies, including the McGill Action Planning System (MAPS), Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope (PATH), and the Five Accomplishments. His work is widely used to help build more inclusive and life-affirming communities across the world. He described himself as "an itinerant curious person," and always emphasized that his role was to learn from other people's social innovations, tell their stories, and share ideas to build community.

His writing has been translated into twenty languages. With his beloved wife, Connie Lyle O'Brien, and many other collaborators, John published over a dozen books, hundreds of articles, and a catalog of video workshops. Many of these can be found at https://inclusion.com/john-obrien-books-videos/.

John was born in Potsdam, New York, on November 15, 1946, to John Leo and Elizabeth Johnston O'Brien. He grew up with one brother, Timothy James O'Brien. He was educated at Le Moyne College (B.A. in Philosophy), at Syracuse University (M.S.W.), and by the tens of thousands of books he read and collected throughout his life. He had two sons, Sean O'Brien of Canton, New York, and Kevin O'Brien of Tacoma, Washington, and two grandchildren, Ciaran and Finn O'Brien of Canton, New York. In addition to his wife, sons, grandsons, and brother, John leaves behind 2 daughters-in-law, 6 sisters-in-law; many nephews, nieces, grandnephews, and grandnieces; thousands of friends and students; and an uncountable number of books.

He is loved and he is missed.

A remembrance service will be held on Wednesday, July 2 at 2 pm at A. S. Turner and Sons Funeral Home in Decatur, Georgia. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that

donations be sent to the Marsha Forest Centre (https://inclusion.com/product/contribute-to-inclusion/), 47 Indian Trail, Toronto, Ontario M6R1Z8 Canada.