From: Arts and Lifestyle | Theater | Wednesday,
August 08, 2001
For This Comic, Speech Is Golden
By DONNA PETROZZELLO
Daily News Feature Writer
Most 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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