Nancy Becker Kennedy 

“Nancy Becker Kennedy can deliver a line like no one can deliver a line.”
Comedian Louie Anderson

“Nancy Becker Kennedy is the freshest of all of the characters as Louie’s disabled assistant.”
Tom Scott, Daily Variety

“A truly fascinating communicator.”
Dr. Henry Betts, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

In addition to complaining about her hair, dating, and staying thin just long enough to land another husband, Nancy Becker Kennedy plunges heart and soul into her one-one show, “I had to Break My Neck to Get Here.”  Unfortunately, that is true both figuratively and literally.

Injured in a diving accident at age twenty, Nancy suffered a broken neck with spinal cord injuries resulting. With the assistance of her electric chair, she returned to college to complete both a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Communications. She went on to become a news producer for public television, a published playwrigt, award winning writer and composer, as well as an actress appearing regularly for 2 1/2 years on daytime’s General Hospital. She even became the first primetime player who is quadriplegic appearing on the ABC series, The Louie Anderson Show.

Nancy is committed to opening doors. Combining her comedy and communication skills, she has made a powerful impact as a member of ADAPT (American Disabled for Attendant Programs) a civil rights organization that fights for the release of people with disabilities who are inappropriately locked away in nursing homes and institutions. With her comedy, she is opening another kind of door--the door to the heart that sometimes closes in fear when you see someone who uses a chair.

Becker Kennedy’s power with candor and warmth uniquely qualifies her to help college students deal with the discomfort that exists between the non-disabled and disabled worlds. Having spent equal time in both worlds, Nancy speaks with insight and authority. When asked how she can so comfortably answer intimate questions from the audience, she replies, “The deeply seated answer is that I’m unbelievably insensitive.” As you listen to Nancy give her presentation, you will see that that is not true.

Nancy finds “the whole journey into the experience of disability endlessly interesting. It tells you so much about what we value in a society, and what really matters in the human experience.”  She can answer questions on disability and sexuality, the meaning of life, and if light can escape from a black whole and whether Jesse, the nurse on General Hospital is really a bitch.