‘Left’ Out - Living as a Lefty.

 by Alys Jones

Can I ask you - are you right or left handed? Have you ever thought about what it would be like to use the other hand? Perhaps to draw or write something or to pick up a knife and have to use it in your non dominant hand?

I’m a left hander and intrigued where my left handedness came from. Both me and my sister are lefties, but our parents are right handed, making the house the ‘wrong’ way round. Well, I do wonder as my dad uses his cutlery back-to-front (fork in his right hand and knife in his left).  My dad’s dad is left handed but my dad’s mum, a headteacher, encouraged a right handed world - you should see my dad’s handwriting! I think he should have been a lefty, then that would make sense that it is genetic, but some statistics say otherwise.

Investigative primatologists say that chimpanzees are equally likely to be right or left handed, so how are humans only 10% lefties? It changed way back in evolution. If you look at patterns on the teeth of the early man, it suggests they were using stones as knives in dominant hands, with a similar ratio of 1 in 10 being left handed. We know that left handedness is genetic, but it is still unknown which genes are involved.

It isn’t just about your hands, 40% of us are left eared, 30% are left eyed and 20% are left footed. However, only 10% are left handed. Which ear, eye, foot or hand do you use the most?

I love to catch people out in sport; tennis, cricket, badminton, swing ball. Playing the piano is slightly easier with my left hand stronger and more dexterous. However, the advantages are easily outweighed by the difficulty of a fairly right handed world. Lots of left handed equipment is harder to find and sometimes a bit more expensive. Peelers, knives, scissors and kettles are all harder to use when you are left handed and many hobbies and their equipment are usually made for the ‘normal’ righty. Then we are at a disadvantage, playing the guitar is tricky, playing hockey is harder, even baking can be awkward. I have realised that using a mouse is difficult because you have to use it in your right hand, this means I can’t click as quickly as others - a definite downside.

Because of my parents, our whole kitchen is laid out for right handers - when they come home, they sometimes realise that everything has been turned to the left - the kettle handle is on the left, same with the teapot and the jug! Pens can also be awkward, some fountain pens ‘don’t accept lefties’, some just feel uncomfortable to hold in your left hand compared to your right. Also, no one has really ever taught me how to hold a pen or use scissors so sometimes I realise I’ve been doing it wrong the whole time.

So, is it the right handed world that means fewer people are left handed? The answer is no. It isn’t. Research shows that 9 out of 10 babies suck their right thumbs in utero and, when followed through, these are all right handers. They are not being affected by the predominance of the right handed world.

In my search to find some left handed things, I was surprised that there is something called a left handed clock. Yep. It is a clock that goes the wrong way round. This is an extreme, your brain must be so muddled up to need everything back-to-front or the opposite way round. I think a more serious appreciation of what it is to be left handed in a right handed world would lead the way to a safer, more inclusive lifestyle for people like me.