BLVS
About Us
Chair's Welcome
The Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies offers graduate students preparation for becoming orientation and mobility specialists, rehabilitation teachers, teachers of children with visual impairments, and rehabilitation counselors. Our programs are consistently rated among the best in the nation, and our graduates provide services in most states around the nation and often become leaders in the field.
Traditional campus and distance education programs are available. Distance education programs include videotape instruction, teleconferencing, and web-based instruction. Most programs provide financial assistance to qualified students.
Blindness and Low Vision Studies faculty, staff and students are known to be supportive of students interested in attending our programs. Please review carefully our web pages and communicate with us directly through our email addresses. Your input and interest are valuable to us.
Sincerely,
James Leja, Rh.D.
Department Chair
WMU Program History
The Department of Blindness and Low Vision Studies at Western Michigan University is the oldest, largest, and one of the best known blindness and low vision studies programs in the world. The master's level program was established in 1961 in response to the need for professionals to rehabilitate the many military personnel who were blinded during the second World War and the Korean War. A small cadre of eminent people in the fledgling profession joined Western Michigan University and established the blind rehabilitation program. As the program grew, it developed into two tracks: orientation and mobility, and rehabilitation teaching. In past decades, the department has added preparation for teachers of children with visual impairments and rehabilitation counseling.
Today the department offers four specialized curricula, and has eight full time faculty members who are certified by their respective professionals organizations.
Our graduates serve people with visual impairments in almost every state in the nation and in many foreign countries. Many WMU graduates are members of the faculty at the nation's 18 institutions of higher learning that prepare professionals in rehabilitation and education of individuals with visual impairments. WMU faculty, past and present, have received the highest honors, nationally and internationally, that the profession bestows.