For 12 years, deaf comedienne Kathy Buckley has been bringing her life story to hundreds of thousands through her stand-up comedy as well as her motivational speaking, television appearances and her one-woman show in Los Angeles and off-Broadway. As a child, Kathy's deafness was misdiagnosed as mental retardation. She was placed in a mental institution until she was correctly diagnosed by the mother of a friend who worked there as a nurse. Kathy suffered through the stigma of being "different," had a near death experience after being run over by a jeep, discovered in therapy that she had been the victim of incest and later battled two bouts of cervical cancer.
And yet she stands in front of audiences all year talking and joking, yes joking, about how she has turned tragedy into triumph, how lucky she is to be alive and loved, how hopeful she is for the future and how much she loves doing what she is doing.