A Champion of True Inclusion: Honoring the Life and Work of John O'Brien

The disability rights movement lost one of its visionary leaders when John O'Brien passed away on June 27, 2025. For decades, O'Brien and his wife Connie Lyle O'Brien championed a simple belief: that every person deserves to be fully included in community life. His groundbreaking work changed how we think about disability. It moved goals beyond basic accommodations to pursue full community belonging. Belonging in schools, neighborhoods, and everyday conversations. He emphasized the importance of listening to people with disabilities and their families and learning from their experiences. The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD) is driven by its Five Year Strategic Plan goals to improve services and supports for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (I/DD). The Council, charged with creating systems change for individuals with developmental disabilities and family members, will work through various advocacy and capacity building activities to build a more interdependent, self-sufficient, and integrated and included disability community across Georgia.This project was supported, in part by grant number 2001GASCDD-03, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.