Being Left Handed

It would seem that I'm getting on my soap box a bit at the moment; my last post was about having to share - or rather not having to share. I must admit that I have been flattered by the comments I've received about the previous blog - and also about other pieces of writing I have done recently - an article I did about support networks and fostering, and the comments from UKQU members, about my views of being 42 - which was largely based on the post on here.

I've read and posted a comment on the UKQU Facebook page recently, after someone asked a question about getting left-handed scissors for granddaughters. Lots of the comments I read struck a chord with me - although I wasn't always in tune with the chord - in fact, the chord was quite jarring. Several comments suggested that the girls would adapt to using right-handed scissors, and even that the girls would be thankful for having to be adaptable. Others shared their experiences of being left handed - and that they find it difficult to use left-handed scissors now, that they were made to do things with their right hands

I totally disagree with this train of thought. I don't believe that left-handed people should HAVE to be adaptable. In very many cases, we are extremely adaptable. However, we have had to learn how to be adaptable, because so many things have been made and designed by right-handed people. Being left-handed has been seen by some as being a handicap, or as something that is undesirable.

There are so many derogatory phrases associated with being left-handed: cack-handed, gauche, sinister. The French word 'gauche' means 'left' - but is also used to mean clumsy; in contrast the French word for right is 'droit' - from which we get the word adroit, meaning capable. Sinister - from the Latin for left, whereas the Latin for right gives us the word 'dexterous'. Even the word 'right' - it can be put as the opposite to both 'left' and 'wrong' - and so we can make a link of similarity between 'left' and 'wrong'.

The only phrases that doesn't seem to be quite so derrogatory is 'south paw'; it doesn't seem to give quite the same negative impression.

Left-handed people make up only 10% of the population. It is not something we can change - it is how we are born. There are people who make a comparison between being left-handed and being gay: in both cases it is how we were born. A little search for left-handed quotes gives a lot of positive messages, and also suggests that left-handed people are more creative - we are more able to think outside of the box, and find unique solutions to problems. I've always loved the quotation about being the only people in their right mind!

We need to stand up for left-handed people - there is a statistic that says that right-handed people live for about 8 years longer than left-handed people on average. One reason for this could be down to do there not being as many left-handed people, and it would also depend on the method used to calculate the average (did you know that there are 3 types of average?). Another possibility is that left-handed people are using tools and implements for right-handed people, and so they end up injuring themselves, try to use something that isn't designed for them.

Some children are still being persuaded to write with their right-hand, - by well-meaning parents. In my opinion, this really should not be allowed to happen in this day and age; by doing this we are only reinforcing the idea that it is preferable to be right-handed, and that there is something wrong with being left-handed. How many sportsmen and sportswomen have an advantage because they are left-handed, and their right-handed opponents are not ready or prepared for?

I have found being left-handed a blessing and a curse. It seems to me to be quite special to be left-handed - more so than discovering that you come from the same place as someone else. It is an identifying feature that is quite obvious. However, it is a curse as well, because it can be very difficult to work out how to do something in the same way that a right-handed person does it. It took me until I was about 14 or 15 and I learned to crochet, that I needed to sit in front of someone and mirror image what they were doing - I had to see it as a mirror image, rather than try to mirror image it in my brain. It is rather peculiar as my mum learned how to knit left handed to try to teach me to knit - but we both got into such a muddle, that we gave up. I learned how to knit right-handed instead, and then when it came to crocheting, I thought I may be able to do it right-handed; by that point I was decidedly left-handed and couldn't do it. The thing is - sitting or standing opposite someone to mirror image their movements really isn't a ground-breaking idea, but it seemed an inspiration to do it. What I really want to know is - why didn't my teachers know about this or realise this is what is very helpful for left-handed pupils?

A year or two ago, I won some left handed pencils, from Stabilo, through a facebook competition. This may seem rather odd - after all, how can a pencil be left-handed? Well, these pencils have little grooves in them to aid told the pencil correctly; anyone who is right-handed who tries to use these pencils will find them awkward to use, as the grooves are not the right angle for right-handed people. I feel for the people who bend their wrists round to write - it must be very uncomfortable - it certainly looks like an uncomfortable way to write - even if it means that the ink does not smudge.

There are a lot of minority groups that we make allowances for, and also that we provide for. I don't suggest that being left-handed is a disability - it is a different ability though; however - people with disabilities are provided with tools, implements and aids to help them in every day life, and we should do the same for left-handed people. Not just pencils and scissors - but what about mugs...?

This looks a lot like a right-handed mug...

Have you ever thought about mugs? Left-handed people may lift them up with their left hand, and so if there is a specific design or picture it needs to be to the right of the handle, so that the left-handed person can see the design! Mind you, us left-handed people can use the mugs with 'right-handed' designs in our right hands, as that leaves our left hands free for writing or doodling.

While there are some activities where it makes a difference if you are right- or left-handed, there are others where it doesn't seem to matter at all. I can think of a few instances where I have just learned how to do it, and accepted that it is done this way, and in no other way; examples of this include lace-making, playing the flute, playing the piano, playing the bassoon, guitar, recorder, using a computer mouse. Some of these things can be changed for left-handed people - you can change the orientation of the computer mouse, however - it is not until I've started writing this blog that I consider making more musical instruments left-handed. In many cases, it really wouldn't be practical, or aesthetically pleasing - can you imagine playing in an orchestra and having flutes pointing both left and right? What about playing the violin or viola - and the bow would be going in a different direction - and so we have the possibility of injury, and a bow in the eye would not be at all pleasant. People watching the orchestra could be distracted by the non-uniformity of the movements, which would then detract from the piece of music. Why don't we have left-handed flutes, left-handed pianos? Lacemaking - this is taught in a particular way - and I am now wondering about what left-handed lace would look like...

Thinking about all of this, I can now see why I had such a big problem when I came to driving in America. Bear with me while I relate my experience: in 2006 I visited America for the first time, with my husband. When we got to Orlando we hired a car - it was a Chrysler automatic, left hand drive. Now - this was the first time that I had the opportunity to drive on the continent, in an automatic, in a left-hand drive car. My poor brain was over worked; I think I expected everything to be the other way round in a left-hand drive car, - like a mirror image, but it wasn't like that. Also - I had to deal with an automatic, which was something else to get used to. In addition to all of this, I was driving on the wrong (right) side of the road for me - and I had to mirror image all the procedures once again. I can now understand (some 12 years later) how all of this just overloaded my brain; I expected the car controls to be a mirror image, as they were on the other side to what I was used to (they weren't); I expected that driving on the right would be a mirror image of driving on the left (it was - sort of, but they have different rules for traffic lights, and I had to liken a right-hand turn to a UK left-hand turn, and a left-hand turn to a UK right-hand turn - but also remember that I had to go to the 'wrong' side of the road). All of this is a very real problem for us left-handers; we have got used to a certain way of doing something, and when we have to do it in a different way - like drive on the right (wrong) side of the road, we put our brains to work and try to mirror image it all - no wonder I was a nightmare driving in America! Thinking about it now - it seems to me that those people who drive on the left-hand side of the road are the ones doing it correctly! I've just tried to explain all this to my right-handed husband, and he's tried to dispute my claim.

I would rather have written this blog to coincide with International Left-Handers Day - but when the muse takes you, you have to go with it! Luckily - for all of us special left-handed people out there, there are shops which accommodate us - in particular - www.anythinglefthanded.co.uk . Us left-handers are a minority, but like any other minority, we like to celebrate our differences! We should celebrate them, and we should also make it our mission to educate the right-handed world as to what it is that we need - and how influential our fellow left-handers have been.