John Hadley wants to live a full life. Not only does he want friendship and family but also to do the simple things we all take for granted, like being able to wear his own clothes, spend his own money, or to go out when he wants. Now Maureen Ronksley can help him to do this. She is his advocate: a trained volunteer who represents the interests of a mentally-handicapped person living in hospital as if they were her own. Open Space looks at this revolutionary scheme based on relationships of friendship and trust designed to transfer personal power to people like John Hadley and 50,000 others who have always been denied it.