I’m Left-Handed, Not Sinister

It’s time to speak out on behalf of left-handed or mixed-handed people.  Mixed-handed is the label for people who are not solely left or right-handed. I think there’s a world-wide conspiracy of some sort.  We get a bum rap-those of us who aren’t right-handed.  

Scissors aren’t made for left-handers, nor are powers tools and machinery.  Lecture halls restrict us to sitting at the end of the aisles where they situate the left-handed desks.  What if we wanted to sit in the middle of the aisle?  When writing, our hand is tinged with ink as we drag our left hand through the ink writing left to right on the page.  We apparently have more accidents since the world is made for right-handed people.

An article in the Globe and Mail newspaper today  “The health risks of sinister people” by Shirley S. Wang, a member of the Wall Street Journal Staff wasn’t exactly a fun read if you are left-handed.  She reports some researchers have found that left-handers’ brains are wired differently that may result in difficulty with language as well as ADHD symptoms.  Stress during pregnancy seems to increase the risk of having a left or mixed-handed child which in turn, they say, may be a risk factor for possible psychiatric or developmental conditions.

I’ve about had it with this type of research.  I am left-handed. I don’t think I am sinister. (Actually I am more accurately mixed-handed.)  The definition of sinister spans being left-handed or threatening, bad, evil and disastrous. There is a need for someone to do the research on the advantages of being left-handed. 

• Sports:  Most people involved in sports are right-handed. By being left-handed, players can pose an advantage because their competitors aren’t as used to playing left-handed players.  There’s plenty of left-handed pitchers in Major League Baseball.
• Higher IQ: A 2000 study by Dr. Alan Searleman of St. Lawrence University in New York found that more left-handed people had an IQ averaging over 140 than right-handed people.  Albert Einstein was left-handed.  
• Creativity: Due to what may be different wiring in the brain, left-handers may be better at divergent thinking or starting from existing knowledge to develop new concepts, which is considered and element of creativity.

When we read or hear of research, it’s important to look carefully into the report and the findings.  Who are the researchers?  What are there qualifications?  What is the strength of the evidence?  Who is funding the research?

I’ll bet if we looked into the research on left-handers, the researchers are all right-handed.  And their research is well-funded by the makers of right-handed scissors, right-handed desks and right-handed power tools.