John is a Yuin man from the NSW South Coast and is an Associate Professor of Sociology in Indigenous health, specialising primarily in disability studies. John is the first Aboriginal person to lead Indigenous disability scholarly research. John has worked in disability and ageing research and community development with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, government and non-government stakeholders for most of his life. John is passionate about Aboriginal owned and driven research as means to influence policy. John has led many research projects in urban and rural/remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.