Happy Left Handers Day

As there is a particular day in a year dedicated for everyone and everything on this world, today is also marked for a certain group - that I am a proud member of. A group that is ignored or many are ignorant of or ridiculed or sneered in the past and still by many in this new millennium.

For every group that is in minority or facing discrimination or indifference for a reason like race, caste, gender has supporters. But, not this particular group - because very few are aware of the troubles that the group members face in their daily life - yes, some are trivial inconveniences, not worth the trouble and some are not surfacing because, we group members adapt and ignore them.
I will list few things in the daily life of the members of this group -

• Wake up in the morning - snooze/stop alarm on your mobile by swiping to right
• Unscrew water bottle cap; Turn on/off taps
• Ergonomically designed tooth brushes
• Power on/off / Turn up/down volume on mobile
• Unbutton/button shirt/trousers
• Zip/Unzip trouser
• Put in/Take out from shirt pocket
• Wear a watch on right hand
• Operating refrigerator/washing machine/mixer
• Turn on Car ignition (key or keyless)
• Use a gel/ink pen
• Wear a belt with buckle
• Use a laptop - power button, volume keys, arrow keys, etc.
• Scroll web sites on laptop/desktop
• Operate an ATM
• Sign in a checkbook, register, loan application form, courier acknowledgement form, payment console.
• Measure and mark on the ruler/set square in Mathematics classroom

You may ask what’s so special in these activities. Observe what hand you are using and try to do these with your left hand.
Yes, the group I am referring to is the Left Handed people on this world. Today , August 13th is left-handers’ day.

See I have only touched the tip of iceberg. I am not even talking about regular objects like knives, scissors, spiral notebooks, can openers, sports kits (like gloves), desk chairs, guitars,etc. You will be surprised how many things in our day-to-day life are designed for right-handed and how different an difficult the experiences for somebody who is ‘left’ out.

Many of us are not only left-handed but also have left eye and left-foot dominant. Have you ever tried to see through SLR camera viewfinder with your left eye? They are designed to be hold with right hand, view with right eye and click Shutter button with right index finger.

Couple of years ago, I stumbled across some questions on Quora, the Q&A social media - and I wondered about the lack of awareness and at same time curiosity about Left Handedness and left handed people and I started answering some. Believe it or not I answered 100 Questions on Left Handedness topic - it’s not about me answering them, but the varied and diverse range of questions asked on this topic.
Sharing for your read - https://www.quora.com/profile/Jyothi-Basu-Y/answers/Left-Handedness-1

#Happy Left Handers Day

How come many left-handed people tend to be slightly ambidextrous?

Left-handed people will be using their right hands more regularly and efficiently than the use of left hands by right-handed people. However, that does not make them ambidextrous.

Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well .

So, a left-handed can become comfortable using the objects designed for right-handed - like scissors, knives, can openers. A left-handed can be using the right hand for more activities/actions in a day.

However, he/she would be ambidextrous only if he/she could write legibly or play racket sports like tennis/badminton or throw/pitch a ball/basketball/baseball or play snooker/pool with either hand with reasonable skill.

Footnotes

Ambidexterity - Wikipedia

Holding phone with your right or left hand?

I hold my mobile phone with left-hand while talking. No preference of ear thought - If I have to hear with my right hand, still I hold with my left hand.

While browsing on phone, I hold the mobile with my right hand and swipe with my left hand. Only because, most phones are designed (placing of power, volume buttons, etc) for right handed.

Only when I write/take notes or using my left-hand for some tasks, I hold phone with my right hand.

I have an office landline phone - I am in meetings over phone for at least 2–3 hours a day - I hold the phone with my left hand naturally. Also, the landline phones are designed to dial with your right hand.

How do you use keyboard WASD & mouse if you are a left handed PC gamer

I started using a computer in late nineties - either shared computers in internet/cyber cafes or at my home, a PC that is shared with my dad and friends - - so, I got adapted to using the mouse with right hand.

And, as the arrow keys and game keys like (Home/PageUp/PageDown/End) in a typical keyboard are on the right hand, I got adapted to use them also with my right hand. I was easily using those keys in a word processor or a browser.

So, when it was time to play games - DOS games like Prince, Galaxy, Dave, etc that needed to use the keyboard extensively or Arcade games like Pinball, Ball of Steel, that needed to use mouse buttons to play the flippers or even Solitaire, Hearts, Minesweeper - it was natural for me to use my right hand only. Same with racing games like Road Rash, Motocross, Hard Truck - either use the arrow keys or mouse with right hand.

Even when we played in 2-player mode, where one was using arrows, and the other had to use the keyboard like WASD, Shift, Control - I would still use the right hand for the lack of space.

While playing killer/shooting games that would need to use mouse to navigate and the keyboard shortcuts for weapons, health, etc, - I would be using mouse with right-hand and keyboard shortcuts with left hand.

Appliances against Left-Handed

All refrigerators sold in India and few refrigerators I have seen in US during my stay there - all are designed to open easily with right hand with a handle at the top left corner. Applies to the freezer door inside too. Whereas microwave ovens are designed to open left as the Control panel (buttons/knobs/open switch) are on the right-hand side for the convenience of right-handed. Try operating that panel with left hand. Same applies to Washing Machines, Portable TVs

Can a baby be trained to be right or left-handed?

One can train a baby or train oneself to perform an activity with opposite (non dominant) hand. You can train the baby to write with a specific hand, do normal chores like brushing, shaving, open door with a specific hand, etc.

Like the way, I trained myself to eat, shake-hand, serving food, religious rituals, etc with my right hand.

But, you cannot curb the natural instincts. In most cases, a left-handed (right-handed) baby/person would use its left (right) hand for a reflex or natural or untrained activity - like pick a pebble from ground, pick a fruit, cover nose while sneezing, etc. Or an action that needs strength like using spanner for unscrewing/screwing, etc.

p.s: This answer is from my experience as a left-handed. Not endorsed by any scientific theory.

If you're right-handed, what are some of the things that you do with your left hand, and if you're left-handed, what are some of the things you do with your right hand?

I am left-handed, left-eyed, left-footed. I prefer left by nature and by choice if there’s an option.

Below are few things I use right hand for, by habit/adaptation/lack of choice (mostly the last one):

• While eating with hand (Indian). Will use spoon with right hand in public and left-hand at home. Sometimes, at home, I snack with left-hand if I am alone.
• Using computer mouse at work
• Turning on/off ignition key in car daily
• Steering as my left-hand is mostly on gear shift (Right-side driving in India)
• Scissors, nail cutters, knives
• Hindu religious activities when obligated - rituals like pujas, lighting lamps, putting tilak/bindi, ringing bells in temples, taking prasad/harati (arti)
• Serving food at family events (avoid as much as I can)
• Using ATM
• Dialing on my office VOIP phone
• Buttoning/unbuttoning my shirts/jackets/trousers -yeah, you can do easily with single right hand, but not with single left hand. Try yourself!
• Locking/Unlocking paddle locks
• Open refrigerator door
• Biometric reader (fingerprint scanner) at my office turnstiles entry that reads only my right index finger.
• Clicking (pressing shutter button) on my SLR camera needs my right fingers (by design), though I use my left-eye for view-finder - my nose bumps and smears the LCD screen