If You Could Hear What I See
Buckley, the country's first hearing-impaired comedian and now  also a motivational speaker, certainly has the story to back up  her words. Buckley grew up in a smalltown Ohio family of  noncommunicators who somehow neglected to explain to her the  fact of her hearing loss (at age eight, "I still assumed  everyone heard the same way I did"). Besides one good friend and  one good teacher, her youth was replete with misunderstanding  and misery. She halfheartedly attempted self-destructive  behavior, was run over by a Jeep, found her first real lover and  left him after she was diagnosed, at age 27, with cervical  cancer. She rejected a second operation "I decided to take that  incredible gift called choice" and changed her diet and her  life, most notably confronting the man who'd molested her as a  child. She describes affectingly the experience of finding her  first effective hearing aid. Then, two-thirds of the way through  her tale, she somewhat surprisingly as the memoir up to here is  more sober than funny explains that since she'd always used  laughter to win people over, she went into comedy and soon added  motivational speaking to her performance repertoire. Her  message: "get over it and get on with... life." Buckley rebuilds  her own relationship with her mother and finds a surrogate  family. She urges communication (to break down walls), decries  ignorance (which lets people accept unfair labels) and credits  God's guidance for putting extraordinary people in her path.  Buckley's spirituality might not convince skeptics, but her  hard-won victories surely have given her the capacity to see and  point others to the bright side. (July) Forecast: Buckley's PBS special will air in August. Audiences  know her she is a five-time Comedy Award nominee and the subject  of an Emmy-winning documentary and her inspirational story  should sell well.Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.