Kathy
Buckley has ranted about the ridiculous, the serious and the just plain funny
during her stand-up routines over the years. But the 50-year-old award-winning
author and motivational speaker is like no other comic. Billed as "America's first
hearing-impaired comedienne," Buckley receives her audience response by the vibrations
from the stage floor. The five-time American Comedy Award nominee actually uses
material based on her hearing loss in her shows. And there's a lot of material
there!
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| At a glance | |
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During
the second grade, Buckley was placed in a school for mentally and physically impaired
children. It took school administrators, psychologists and audiologists almost
a year to discover that it was Kathy's hearing loss, and not a lack of mental
acuity, that was holding back her speech and language development. But true to
Kathy's spirit, she now just shakes her head in front of the hundreds of people
at her show and says, "And they called me slow!" But that
was not the end of her medical odyssey. While sunbathing on a beach in the Los
Angeles area, Kathy was run over by a Jeep. Just six years after that, while in
her mid-20s, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, from which she is proud to
proclaim herself a survivor. So, the comedienne, who has also had guest starring
roles on TV and in a one-woman Off-Broadway show ("Don't Buck With Me/Now Hear
This!"), has had to depend on her health insurance over the years to help pay
medical bills. Although Kathy regularly receives national attention
for her comedy routines ("Puberty At 50" is in development), she is more than
just a sought-after performer. Her humor has a higher purpose. "My comedy disarms
people," explains Kathy. "I love to make people laugh, but I love it even more
if I can teach them something at the same time." Here, Buckley weighs in on the
state of medical insurance, and the whole insurance industry. |
