Steve La Grow
Massey University Professor of Rehabilitation
Royal NZ Foundation of the Blind Centennial Chair
Steve La Grow Navigating the world
Visual impairment in his sights
He can’t make the blind see again.
But Steve La Grow’s work comes a close second; helping those who have experienced a significant loss in vision to participate fully in society again.
“While living with visual impairment is not always so bad, the experience of losing it is universely awful”, he says.
“When you lose your sight you often lose the ability to get around. This poses the threat of social isolation, loneliness and a loss of self-worth. One’s sense of wellbeing may be affected – affecting one’s entire life.”
Steve La Grow had no dramatic soap-opera-type story of a passion for blind people, or personal experience with friends and family with visual impairment drawing him into this field. He freely admits his choice to pursue a career in blind rehabilitation was purely based on job prospects.
“But the thing is, that I very quickly became fascinated by how blind people navigate and get around and figure out where they are in an environment.“Thirty-five years later, and I’m still intrigued”
Steve’s focus is on the ways and means by which people who have vision issues can safely navigate through environments of varying complexity. And his work is in demand all over the world.
Visual impairment in his sights
He can’t make the blind see again.
But Steve La Grow’s work comes a close second; helping those who have experienced a significant loss in vision to participate fully in society again.
“While living with visual impairment is not always so bad, the experience of losing it is universely awful”, he says.
“When you lose your sight you often lose the ability to get around. This poses the threat of social isolation, loneliness and a loss of self-worth. One’s sense of wellbeing may be affected – affecting one’s entire life.”
Steve La Grow had no dramatic soap-opera-type story of a passion for blind people, or personal experience with friends and family with visual impairment drawing him into this field. He freely admits his choice to pursue a career in blind rehabilitation was purely based on job prospects.
“But the thing is, that I very quickly became fascinated by how blind people navigate and get around and figure out where they are in an environment.“Thirty-five years later, and I’m still intrigued”
Steve’s focus is on the ways and means by which people who have vision issues can safely navigate through environments of varying complexity. And his work is in demand all over the world.
What does Steve do?
Steve’s focus is on the ways and means by which people who have vision issues can safely navigate through environments of varying complexity.
“When you lose your sight you often lose the ability to get around. This poses the threat of social isolation, loneliness and a loss of self-worth,” says Steve La Grow. “One’s sense of wellbeing may be affected – affecting one’s entire life.”
Navigation involves both orientation (knowing where you are, where you want to be and how to get there) and mobility (independent and directed movement). The elderly are especially vulnerable.
“In the general population only about one in a thousand of those aged under 25 have a significant visual impairment. But by the time you reach 85 that rate increases to around one in two or one in three. The most significant impact associated with the onset of vision impairment is the loss of ease and safety in mobility. With our population getting older, it’s an issue that is only going to grow.”
Steve La Grow helps train a group of rehabilitation specialists in Sumatra (Indonesia) in his techniques to work with the visually-impaired
In demand
Technology is playing a major role in making things easier. While those who are blind or have low vision once had to rely on complicated strategies to maintain an awareness of where they were in the environment, there are now sophisticated GPS systems available.
These can do everything from providing the name of the streets they are walking on and the names of the streets they are approaching, to identifying businesses nearby, and announcing upcoming bus stops or specifying routes of travel.
“These devices do make life much easier for those who are blind or have low vision”, says Steve. “But, they still rely on working out a system for using them, so you can successfully get around in complex urban environments.
Steve is one of the most well known of only a handful of people in the world who are investigating these things. As a result he is in demand internationally. His work has set the standard for the provision of orientation and mobility (O&M) instruction around the world.
He has been invited to:
- address the joint General Assemblies of the World Blind Union and the International Council of the Education of the Visually Impaired on the provision of orientation and mobility (O&M) in the developing world.
- teach the first O&M instructors in Mongolia
He spent time in Indonesia training local rehabilitation trainers. He is also a member of the executive committee of the International Mobility Conference (IMC). The O&M techniques as described in Steve’s book Orientation and Mobility: Techniques for Independence are used as the basis of best practice In many places around the world).
Yes indeed, he’s in demand!
Find out more about careers in rehabilitation studies.
Steve La Grow
Massey University Professor of Rehabilitation
Royal NZ Foundation of the Blind Centennial Chair