View Full Version : Being left-handed: not a disability and no big deal
Being left-handed: not a disability and no big deal
By Kimberly Gray/The Reporter Lifestyle Editor
The word left-handed has bad connotations partially due to the English language itself. For example, a left-handed compliment is an insult, a left-handed diagnosis is a wrong one, left-handed ships are ships that are unlucky or "wrong" in some way and in Scotland an unlucky person might be defined as being baptized by a left-handed priest.
However, as left-handers will attest to, being left-handed is not wrong and it is not a disability. They are simply a minority. One left-hander, Rosemary West, who has her own Web site on the subject, says that most left-handed people do not struggle because most tools can be used with either the left or right hand and those that are geared toward right-handers, left-handers can easily adapt to them.
West only complains of a lack of left-handed desks in schools and the not-so-great job of computer hardware and software manufacturers of considering that there are left-handed people in the world.
So, being left-handed should not be an obstacle of being successful in the world, especially now when most teachers and parents do not try to force children to write with their right hand when it is not natural
http://www.sweetwaterreporter.com/articles/2004/08/12/news/news6.txt
Chris Chappell
08-12-2004, 02:49 PM
40 yrs of being a lefty. Teacher in 3rd grade tried to change me to a righty but was unsuccessful.
...come to think of it that may explain a few things... http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif
joshstevens7
08-12-2004, 04:30 PM
im proud to be this minority. i have major advantages with being a south paw, and far outweighs the disadvantages
Josh S.
I am I guess what you would call Ambidextrous not sure maybe I'm just weird. I write left-handed bat left-handed shoot a gun left-handed. I do more precise things with my left. Everything else I do right handed, golf, throw, scissors etc.. But I do feel writing left hand has disadvantages ie writing with a marker and getting it all over my hand. lol So I think I am even more of a minority.
JOE
mattblan
08-12-2004, 07:20 PM
JoJo, I am the exact same way. I write, eat, skateboard, and brush my teeth left handed, but I throw a baseball, play the guitar, and bowl right handed.
McDuff
08-12-2004, 07:41 PM
Lefty's rule, it just costs us more for our tools. Do y'all look at wristwatches to see what "handed" people are? Usually worn on the non-dominant side.
McD
"Rather be ridin' than rollin'"
Obieone
08-12-2004, 08:24 PM
Hey .... cool ... I'm a lefty too .....
http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/aktion/action-smiley-069.gif
Obieone http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif
P.S. But you probably guessed that!
Lizbv
08-12-2004, 09:11 PM
I was left handed b4 sci, now, I am right handed and had to learn how to write again, eat, hold things etc with my right hand, as it has more function (c6) than c5 left.
Will you still accept me as a "left handed genius"?
Hey wait!........Left handers have rights too! http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF MY MOJO
More than a Woman
gettinup
08-13-2004, 07:27 AM
I write and eat lefty....everything else righty.
Chris Chappell
08-13-2004, 07:49 AM
McDuff - I hear ya on the watch thing.
Liz - yeah, me too. Since I had tendon transfer surgery on my right hand I tend to use it more for grasp, etc. My left is more C6. My right more C7.
Liz, Chris,
I'm just the opposite. Before my accident right handed but now left handed. Right is C6 but left hand has full movement (not strength). Liz, how's the writing going? I still find it extremely difficult!
McDuff
08-13-2004, 12:21 PM
And of course y'all know:
Since the brain is crosswired; Only lefthanded people are in their right minds....
McD
edit: while waiting for this excrutiatingly slow page to refresh, I reread Max's last statements. I was brought up in Catholic schools(now non participant) and my grades and handwriting went to pot in 2nd grade. When I told Mom it was 'cause they were making me use my right hand, hoooeeee she hit the fan. Went up there and raised a ruckus. Turns out, after that, I was the first kid allowed to use his left hand in my little school. And I'm not that old at 47. Man she was a 5' fireball. Thanks Mom.
"Rather be ridin' than rollin'"
[This message was edited by McDuff on 08-13-04 at 03:32 PM.]
Tweetybird
08-13-2004, 12:45 PM
I am a southpaw. Was always told "you are bright but you are a nonconformist." Just don't march...oopps, wheel, to the same drummer, I guess.
Southpaws celebrate Left-Handed Day
No accommodation in digital world
TYLER HAMILTON
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER
Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates is one. So is Lou Gerstner, the former chief executive credited for turning around computing giant IBM Corp.
Four of the past six U.S. presidents are also part of this elite club, along with a long list of famous actors, scientists, politicians and business leaders.
Yet left-handers of the world - representing between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of the population - continue to get little respect in a society built with a right-handed bias.
Today marks the 12th annual International Left-Handers Day, giving millions of proud southpaws across Canada and the rest of the world a chance to complain about kitchen utensils, office equipment, tools, furniture and electronic gadgets
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1092348631609&call_pageid=968350072197
Sweetwater is 'Left-Handed Mecca of World'
By Ben Barkley/The Reporter Managing Editor
The Sweetwater Reporter is honoring the southpaws of our area and country today by publishing the Left-Handers edition today.
Inside today's edition are some memories of famous left-handers by staff members as well as lists of some of the better known lefties in the country.
State Rep. Bob Hunter declared Sweetwater as the "Left-Handed Mecca of the World" with a proclamation he signed.
Also, Sweetwater Mayor Jay Lawrence, along with his daughter, Caroline, have proclaimed Friday as "Left-Handers Day" in Sweetwater.
The history of left-handers can be traced all the way back to the Stone
http://www.sweetwaterreporter.com/articles/2004/08/12/news/news.txt
Little town just right to praise left hands
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By Eric Heyl
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, August 13, 2004
Today should be a day of festivity in one West Virginia town, a day of celebration, a day to fittingly commemorate some of history's most diverse and illustrious characters.
Unfortunately, the tiny hamlet of Left Hand, W.Va., isn't doing anything special to mark the 11th annual International Left-Handers Day.
"A parade? With floats?" said Sandy Morton, the librarian of the Geary Public Library in downtown Left Hand, a mere three-hour drive from Pittsburgh. "My goodness, no. Why would we have anything like that?"
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/opinion/columnists/heyl/s_207973.html
A sinister bunch
By Vicki Shaw
Forget people who speak with forked tongue: the ones to beware are those who write with the left hand.
For centuries, lefties have been figures of scorn and distrust. In medieval times, they were burned at the stake on suspicion of witchcraft.
Today is National Left-Handers Day and Friday the 13th - a more menacing mix you could not hope to find.
And lefties who visit York Dungeon could be in for a frightening reminder of the vilification their ancestors had to face.
Left-handed visitors to the tourist venue will be clearly labelled - just like medieval witches - so that staff and right-handed visitors can keep an eye on them.
And the bloodthirsty actors at the museum will be ensuring such visitors do not get up to any mischief - by threatening them with historic and horrific instruments of torture.
http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=838716
Lizbv
08-13-2004, 05:44 PM
Originally posted by Bke74:
Liz, Chris,
I'm just the opposite. Before my accident right handed but now left handed. Right is C6 but left hand has full movement (not strength). Liz, how's the writing going? I still find it extremely difficult!
Hi, hmmmm, I wonder if it would be more difficult going from right hand to left? (considering the brain and its patterns). I hold a pen w just fingers. I have 8yrs experience tho, dont get discouraged, Gel pens can be your best friend. I use others, but I like the RSVP by pilot, have u tried that? http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif
TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF MY MOJO
More than a Woman