Problems with being left handed?

[Chris Hobson]

I've just come across this thread:

28 Right-Handed Things And Inventions That Have Made Left-Handers Feel “Left” Out

Lefties explain what types of things they’ve struggled with while growing up in a right-handed world.

www.boredpanda.com

I thought that, being left handed myself, that I would be able to relate but instead found that I don't really. This may be because, although I write with my left hand and it is generally my dominant hand, I do tend towards being ambidextrous. This means that, when things are specifically designed in a way that only right handed people can use, I have simply learned to do that specific thing right handed. The only exception that I can think of are some pairs of scissors that have very shaped handles that make them impossible to use.

Are there any left handed people here that struggle with everyday tasks because the world is designed for right handed people?

 

[grovesy]

Not really.

 

[Robin]

My son is left handed, and quite uncoordinated generally, and to save squabbles when the kids were small, I had to make sure he and my right handed daughter were sitting the right way round in cafes etc so they wouldn’t elbow each other/want to put their drink down in the same spot etc.

 

[goodybags]

I’m not left handed myself but Mrs @goodybags is, she has previously told me she would like some Left-Handed Scissors, your post has reminded me to look for some

 

[Pam123]

I am left handed and not really had any problems

 

[Tradesman]

Hi, I am left a handed retired metal worker who has been employed by lots of firms and finally the ship building on the Clyde ,and remembering when serving an apprenticeship used to change the handles on the angle grinders for my benefit and was greeted with a repeated amount of swearing and abuse to I got so fed up I learned to use right handed machinery and with these angle grinders I was finishing the jobs to a superior finish ready for the paint shop finish, so I suppose you don't know what you can do until you try.

 

[nonethewiser]

Eldest is left handed & never had many issues due to it, they say left handed people are more intelligent but don't know how they fathom that out.

 

[Drummer]

I can usually manage most things with either hand, but am classed as left handed as I use that when writing, unless making a rough set of chalked letters on something to my right.
I find that scissors with blades set as for the right hand but with handles shaped for the left are easiest to use, and I use an iron in my left hand as I am moving the fabric with my right.
When using tools I use whichever hand is easiest, or for heavy work such as digging I alternate hands and feet, except at the start and ends of rows.
If I need to do intensely right handed work, data input on a keypad which can only be done right handed I begin to stutter - older members of my family forced to do everything right handed developed the same problem, and like me, when able to work normally, the impediment vanished away.
When very young I was puzzled by being encouraged to use my right hand, and also by things made to be only right handed - it seemed illogical.

 

[Sally71]

My husband is left handed but doesn’t have much of a problem, he seems to be able to swap hands quite easily if necessary. Except for writing of course. He once met someone who had left handed scissors and he couldn’t use them! He also uses a knife and fork right handed because he says that’s how he was taught. I think left handed people are probably a bit more ambidextrous than right-handers for exactly this reason that the world is geared towards being right handed. Having said that, hubby did used to swap his computer mouse buttons around, so that he could use it with his left hand, but I’m not sure that he does that any more.

My husband always used to argue with his sister about whether left handers should be forced to write right handed. His argument being that if you learn to drive a car or play a musical instrument, you can’t change everything around just because you are left handed, you have to learn to do it as it is. Therefore why not with writing. His sister (right handed) used to be a primary school teacher and thinks this is a very bad idea but I’m not sure of her reasoning. My father, however, is naturally left handed but was forced to write right handed and had nightmares apparently, because everyone else could do it and he couldn’t. So maybe that is the reason.

And then you get the really strange ones… my cousin is what’s known as mixed-handed - he writes with his right hand but does pretty much everything else left handed, entirely through choice. He even has to buy left-handed golf clubs and stuff. And my daughter is completely ambidextrous, yes she can write equally well with either hand (which is quite useful in situations like exams, if one hand is getting tired she just swaps to the other one). She can’t imagine having one hand which can do anything better than the other one! She says she used to get told off at primary school because she kept changing hands when writing, and was told “choose one and stick to it” and didn’t understand why she should do that. My daughter doesn’t have a clue which is left and which is right though, I wonder if not having a dominant hand has anything to do with that!

 

[Chris Hobson]

"...play a musical instrument, you can’t change everything around just because you are left handed, you have to learn to do it as it is."

Jimi Hendrix, one of the greatest guitarists that ever lived, played his guitar upside-down because he was left handed. Generally piano music has the more complicated parts played with the right hand. Maybe that's why I'm drawn towards Baroque music that has lots of counterpoint.

 

[Robin]

His sister (right handed) used to be a primary school teacher and thinks this is a very bad idea but I’m not sure of her reasoning. My father, however, is naturally left handed but was forced to write right handed and had nightmares apparently, because everyone else could do it and he couldn’t. So maybe that is the reason.

My father should have been left handed, we think. He was born in 1902, when people were forced to use their right hands. His mother wasn’t fussed, but he had to go and stay with his grandmother, and she made him swap. Around that time, he developed a stammer, which affected him all his life. I have read that this could have been as a result of having to write with the 'wrong' hand.

 

[JJay]

My brother is left-handed, as were our grandfather and aunt. One thing that characterised them all was their beautiful handwriting which was far better than anyone else’s in the family - copperplate for grandpa and auntie, italic for my brother.

My brother and I both went to a primary school where italic writing was taught and insisted upon. I absolutely hated it and abandoned it for my own style as soon as I got to grammar school. Brother carried on for years though and had fountain pens with a left handed nib. Since he took to ballpoint however, his handwriting has unravelled somewhat.

I am most definitely right-handed but have been told I am odd because I stir things anti-clockwise.

 

[Sally71]

"...play a musical instrument, you can’t change everything around just because you are left handed, you have to learn to do it as it is."

Jimi Hendrix, one of the greatest guitarists that ever lived, played his guitar upside-down because he was left handed. Generally piano music has the more complicated parts played with the right hand. Maybe that's why I'm drawn towards Baroque music that has lots of counterpoint.

Yes OK guitars can be turned around or re-strung; if you learn a wind instrument or piano though, it can’t be changed!

 

[Lisa65]

I am left handed and used to play the guitar. As it's a two handed activity there's no need to restring or turn it upside down, just learn to play it as it is. Left handed pianists, trumpeters, violinists don't learn any differently, a left handed violinist with their instrument strung the other way would be unable to play in an orchestra, because they'd be knocking bows with the person next to them
I can't get on with left handed scissors, I've tried them but because I've used normal scissors all my life I'm used to compensating.

The only specific left handed thing I found useful was a fountain pen, when I was at school and needed to use one. It just meant I didn't have to hook my hand round to stop the nib scratching the paper.

 

[Chris Hobson]

Ah, I couldn't comment on the wind instruments, only piano. Apart from somewhat limited talent I never had problems playing piano due to being left handed.

 

[Drummer]

My brother is left-handed, as were our grandfather and aunt. One thing that characterised them all was their beautiful handwriting which was far better than anyone else’s in the family - copperplate for grandpa and auntie, italic for my brother.

My brother and I both went to a primary school where italic writing was taught and insisted upon. I absolutely hated it and abandoned it for my own style as soon as I got to grammar school. Brother carried on for years though and had fountain pens with a left handed nib. Since he took to ballpoint however, his handwriting has unravelled somewhat.

I am most definitely right-handed but have been told I am odd because I stir things anti-clockwise.

I use fountain pens I have dozens, none of them are 'left handed'. I tried one long ago and could not get it to write as it just dug into the paper. I have written and bound hundreds of the songs I sing as Atorvastatin blasted my memory and I could not remember the words plus I lost all confidence. I painstakingly looked for the words and wrote them out as part of the memorising. I am now remembering the original versions, after 8 years and having problems where the two versions differ.
I am told that my hand writing is very neat.
As I write the nibs of the pens make small sounds as they move over the paper. It is oddly beautiful, like the sound of wood being carved or metal being engraved by hand, less the actual sound but what it represents.

 

[Lucyr]

Are there any left handed people here that struggle with everyday tasks because the world is designed for right handed people?

My husband always used to argue with his sister about whether left handers should be forced to write right handed. His argument being that if you learn to drive a car or play a musical instrument, you can’t change everything around just because you are left handed, you have to learn to do it as it is.

Well I’m right handed but since my hand problems have had to learn to be left handed. And yes that includes learning to play my instruments left handed too!

I have struggled loads but doing things with 1.5 hands where the task needs 2 is harder than doing things that need one hand with my left hand. The computer mouse I don’t swap the buttons round though I do now use it in my left hand.

 

[JJay]

I use fountain pens I have dozens, none of them are 'left handed'. I tried one long ago and could not get it to write as it just dug into the paper. I have written and bound hundreds of the songs I sing as Atorvastatin blasted my memory and I could not remember the words plus I lost all confidence. I painstakingly looked for the words and wrote them out as part of the memorising. I am now remembering the original versions, after 8 years and having problems where the two versions differ.
I am told that my hand writing is very neat.
As I write the nibs of the pens make small sounds as they move over the paper. It is oddly beautiful, like the sound of wood being carved or metal being engraved by hand, less the actual sound but what it represents.

The “school” pens were made by Osmiroid. Parker or Platignum were frowned upon.
Lefthanded nib:

 

[Drummer]

The “school” pens were made by Osmiroid. Parker or Platignum were frowned upon.
Lefthanded nib: View attachment 33351View attachment 33351

Oh yes - that is like the one I tried - just didn't work. I suppose that having learned to use a 'normal' pen I adapted my writing style so it would work. I always sat in the right hand side of double desks as the inkwell for the dipped pens was on the right side of the top, though some of the children got really angry that I used 'their' ink.
As I was ink monitor and filled up everyone's inkwell every morning it was a rather strange attitude.

 

[dannybgoode]

My wife and son are left-handed as was my mum. None of them particularly have/had issues.

I don't think Fin really registers it to be honest and I forget my wife is!