Singing Through The Pain I've Found My Voice

How Emma Is Using Her Positivity and Success to Help Others
 

- Steve Landells

Vivacious and engaging singer-songwriter Emma Cooper-Williams is hoping to enrich the lives of other thanks to her selfless work.

Not only an accomplished musician, the Auckland teen has taken on a range of leadership positions and is hoping to inspire the next generation to follow in her footsteps and “turn obstacles into opportunities”.

Emma was born with a mild form of cerebral palsy and as a baby underwent two brain surgeries after suffering a haemorrhage. More recently, she’s become a wheelchair-user because of Complex Regional Pain syndrome. But she defies her disabilities to thrive as a successful young woman who is determined to make a difference.

Bullied at school, Emma found her formative years difficult as she struggled fit in.

“I felt different and I maybe took a little longer to develop socially,” she recalls.

“I remember one particular incident when I scraped the whole of one side of my body after an older boy pushed me to the concrete at intermediate school. I was very upset when he denied pushing me and just said I had fallen over, which I often did because of my cerebral palsy.”

Liberation eventually came for Emma came through her passion for music. A member of the primary school choir, she sang solos and later played the guitar, banjo, drums and keyboard.