Words do not come easy for Elizabeth Tan. She has spinal muscular dystrophy and that leaves her in a wheelchair. From a budding writer and artist, she has bloomed and flourished in her love for writing and painting. Elizabeth first got involved with the arts through a volunteer teacher and Very Special Arts Singapore.

EAs Elizabeth succinctly puts it in a 1997 interview, "It doesn’t matter if our dreams don’t com true. The process of working to realise them will enrich us." What strength and hope to be found in these words. That is what Elizabeth desires to do, to move people with her words and to make a difference. She, like anyone of us, feels frustration. Her disability frustrates her sometimes, not being able to physically do many things like bathing and changing and not having her own place where she can leave things and access them easily. To many, it will seem painful and unbearable, but shy and quiet.

The Artist And Her Work

She speaks not but she compels me,
She moves not but she drew my attention;
Upon her, my graze fell and stayed,
My body and soul joined in the creation.
With colours louds and colours soft,
she drew me in,
I find myself lost in the images she held within.
Violet, the flowers,
with lavender sweet,
On the green,
green grass where I want to lay my feet Yellow,
the sunshine in the blue, blue sky,
There, I sail and soar with eagles, high.
Red and gold, the leaves,
autumn fall Winter’s white blanket, soon to cover all.
Black, the darkness shroud the night
Grey, my confuse spirit, groping for the light.
But on the canvas,
I see a hole, With my paint brush,
pushed to open the window,
There I look out to find all the colours once again
Freedom and life,
it gives without restrain.