[3] O'Brien contracted polio in 1955 and spent the rest of his life paralyzed and requiring an iron lung.
[4] In the iron lung he attended UC Berkeley, produced his poetry and articles, and became an advocate for disabled people.
[4] He co-founded a small publishing house, Lemonade Factory, dedicated to poetry written by people with disabilities.
[5] He was featured in two segments of the radio program "This American Life" where he spoke about the occasional opportunities he had to leave the iron lung for short periods of time, trying to find love, and sex.
O'Brien was the author of several volumes of poetry, including Breathing, and an autobiography entitled, How I Became a Human Being: A Disabled Man’s Quest for Independence,[6] written with Gillian Kendall.