The importance of setting up centered systems to accommodate Lefties.
“….10 percent of human beings have been consistently left-handed for millennia. There is evidence that even as far back as cavemen times there were Lefties.“
The following written content by Kelly McMenamin
……..10 percent of human beings have been consistently left-handed for millennia. There is evidence that even as far back as cavemen times there were Lefties.
According to my left-handed sister, there is an immediate kinship when fellow Lefties meet each other because they have suffered the same annoyances of adapting to a right-handed world throughout their life. From being bumped by diners at tightly set tables to the smudge of ink and graphite on their hands from writing left to right with their left hands. They’re the odd ones out.
While modern myths still abound about them — they’re more likely to be leaders, creative, and right-brained — one thing is true: They have difficulty following left-to-right patterns and systems that are designed for right-handed people. This makes life needlessly harder for Lefties. Life is hard enough as it is. Organization shouldn’t be.
Left-handed folks gravitate to right-to-left systems
Right-handed folks might think, “What’s the big deal? So, their elbows are jostled by others while eating.” But then stop and think about how deeply ingrained left-to-right patterns are in the Western world. One of the most fundamental underpinnings of life is built upon a left-to-right system: reading and writing. All texts, books, scripts, documents, blogs, contracts, financial statements, etc. are a left-to-right system.
A great exercise for right-handed people to understand how difficult it is to use a system that’s counter to one’s brain wiring is simply to write with the left hand. It’s not easy. With practice, it becomes easier. But, rarely (never?) does it become a preference.
Yet, it’s not just the written word that is designed around right-handed people. Doorknobs are usually placed on the left-hand side of doors. People design rooms around right-handed tendencies as well as closets, cupboards, fridges. Lefties adapt but the question is why society makes them adapt when a middle ground exists. Read more from Psychology Today.
