Tina Zhu Xi Caruso
CVI Advocate, Adult with CVI, Photographer
About
Tina Zhu Xi Caruso is an international transracial adoptee from China. She was adopted at 11 months and grew up in the Boston Area.
By age six, she was diagnosed with Nystagmus as well as Dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning disabilities. She received special education services at school but struggled with not being able to see. Her doctors and teachers recognized she had tracking challenges and but didn’t understand the extent of her vision issues.
She was diagnosed with CVI at age 19. Tina is currently a student at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, majoring in photography. Tina, also known as blindsided_in_boston on Instagram, is a visually impaired photographer who sees the world differently. She is passionate about spreading awareness about CVI by capturing how she sees the world with a camera. Tina loves to share what she sees with others because CVI is a spectrum.
Most recently Tina has appeared on Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum, a series that follows people on the autism spectrum looking for love. She also participates in the Boston chapter of Achilles International, the only fully inclusive running group in the world for people living with disabilities to socialize by running, walking or rolling together. She also photographs marathons and Achilles’ events.
Recently, Tina was pleased to be included in the children’s book What I Can Be is Up to Me by Kirsten Smedley and illustrated by Kim Crothers. Authored by a teacher of students with visual impairments, Diana Garcia-Mejia, the book features young people with all kinds of blindness and low vision, including CVI, and empowers readers to see that everyone has unique abilities.
Disclosures for 2024 CVI Conference: Building Meaningful Recognition
Tina Zhu Xi Caruso is not being paid for her presentation, but her registration fees are being waived.
Tina Zhu Xi Caruso does not have any nonfinancial relationships to disclose.