Mentoring

EMVIA has been created to support both the people who are visually impaired and their families. We hope to help you find coping mechanisms and the necessary steps to self sufficiency and a productive life. There are many resources available within our community and EMVIA will help you connect to what you need.

We are here to gather and spread useful information. Since one size never fits all, we come up with questions too. We have hard working volunteers and a knowledgeable advisory board to help us find answers. Some of these people are visually impaired, some not. Some use services and some work in the field giving services. They're knowledgeable people and that knowledge adds up.

We can help you connect to the right people, the right agencies, and the right programs. We know the merchants, the equipment, the charities, the support groups. We are in touch with newly blinded people, others blind since birth, their parents, spouses, and children.

Mitzi Tharin is our mentor for EMVIA. She says: "I started noticing a vision problem when I was 21, found out many years later that I had RP and now am totally blind from Retinitis Pigmentosa.

"I have worked for almost twenty years and have been involved with different agencies dealing with vision loss issues. One of the most difficult challenges my family and friends encountered during the time I was losing my vision was finding the information and resources we knew I would need.

"Throughout all of those years I and my family right along with me have definitely had our ups and downs, so with what I have found along the way I would love to help anyone I can get through a vision loss. I know the pain that people go through, especially in the beginning. Call me on the phone at 520.290.4770, e-mail me at MitziTharin@emviatucson.org, or just have a look through the site."

Click here to read about Mitzi's mom's thoughts on her daughter's challenge.