From: Arts and Lifestyle | Theater |
Wednesday, August 08, 2001
For This Comic, Speech
Is Golden
By DONNA PETROZZELLO
Daily News Feature Writer
 ost
of us put public speaking atop the list of things we fear, surveys say.
Not Kathy Buckley.
The hearing-impaired comic and lecturer considers
not being able to speak — whether to one person or an audience of 1,000
— a horrible fate.
"Most people say they're more afraid of
speaking in front of a group than they are of death," she said.
"That amazes me."
That attitude could be the result of Buckley's
struggle to speak at all.
As a child, she became partially deaf after a bout
with spinal meningitis. She spent a year in a school for the mentally
retarded, until her hearing loss was correctly
diagnosed and she was taught to speak by reading lips and imitating the
vibration of vocal cords.
Now, she jokes, it's hard to shut her up.
In her one-woman show, "Kathy Buckley: No
Labels, No Limits," which airs tonight on WLIW/Ch. 21, she
recounts her struggle growing up with a hearing impairment.
(It's one of those shows aimed at inspiring more
than admiration — it's also part of the Ch. 21 on-air membership drive,
and Buckley will be at the studio tonight pulling for pledges.)
Buckley's comedy routine in the special includes
elements of her Off-Broadway show "Now Hear This," which ran for
three months in 1999.
Blending jokes with tales of her childhood, Buckley
recalls leaving a class to sit out in a courtyard during winter after a
teacher punished her for humming — not that she could hear it herself.
Buckley remembers when, as a teenager, she stole
petty cash and candy from her parents to give to other students in an
effort to win their friendship.
At age 21, she was seriously injured after being run
over by a lifeguard's Jeep; she didn't hear the vehicle coming while she
sunbathed.
Yet, Buckley jokes that her hearing impairment —
which is remedied by a pager-size hearing aid she resisted getting for
years — has been a blessing at times.
"As a comedienne with a hearing loss, I can't
hear myself bombing on stage," she said.
Buckley encourages people to focus on the upside and
to stop rushing through life.
"I know very few people who look for the
positive in life," said Buckley. "I think most folks on the fast
track are on a path to no-man's land."
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