CHENNAI: The next time you’re writing a sentence on paper, try scribbling anything from right to left and watch a trail of ink being smudged on both the paper and onto your hand. Think there’s no reason anyone would want to write like this? Think again. What we’ve just explained is a classic left-hander’s problem, only inverted. This and many more troubles plague the left-handed community, from everyday instruments to sporting goods.
On the occasion of International Left Hander’s Day on August 13, City Express takes a look at some of the problems faced by left-handers, and talked to a few doctors for ca medical perspective on this phenomenon.
Left-handers have long been at the receiving end of social and cultural bias simply because they are a minority. “Simple tasks, such as handling scissors or finding a desk with left hand armrest, etc., become an issue. Buttoning up a shirt is hard because buttons are stitiched for the use of a right-hander,” rues a left-handed Akhil Jayaprakash, an engineering student. “The odds are stacked against lefties when it comes to using the computer mouse and musical instruments.”
There is no conclusive medical reason why some people are left-handed. “Approximately 10% of the global population is left-handed,” claims Dr Halprasanth, consultant neurologist at Global Hospitals, Chennai. “Humans are the only species that practice a specific handedness. Most other mammals are skilful at using both their hands at work.”
A left-hander also suffers from adverse cultural associations that are, more often than not, forced upon them. In India especially, the left hand is considered unclean because of the negative connotation it has with cleaning oneself. For this very purpose, using the left hand to give or receive money, do rituals in temples or even do simple household tasks is daunting in front of unrelenting elders. “I remember my class teacher in school scolding me for using my left hand and in fear I would switch to my right whenever she looked my way,” says Kanika, a college student. “I felt disgusted. Even after 22 years, while I was picking food of a vessel from the hostel kitchen, one of the cooks yelled at me and said others will not like it. I lost my temper when he made the disgusted face.”
“I was often scolded whenever I greeted someone with a handshake using my left hand, which I thought was normal,” adds Jaswanth S, an employee of an IT services company in Shollinganallur. “I was told to only use my right hands and over time was also asked, though never forced, to start using my right hand more for usual activities.”
So what happens when they are forced to use their right hand? “In left-handers, it is the right side of the brain that is dominant and vice versa for right-handers,” says Dr Halprasanth. “The left side of the brain is also responsible for speech. So when a left-hander is made to use his right hand forcefully, the left side of the brain will be used more, and hence it may affect their speech patterns, resulting in language issues. The brain has the capacity to adjust its functions, but only over a long period of time, and such people develop what is called mixed-handedness.”
Rukmani, a social science teacher in a CBSE school in the city, is one such individual who was forced to use her right hand. “While we were young, I was told that using the left hand was wrong, no matter how comfortable we were with it. I encountered problems with everyday activities, such as using a sewing machine, which is only designed for right-handers. In rituals, I was at times isolated. Once, when I took something using my left hand, a priest remarked that it was only people who consumed toddy did so! Hence, I was forced to use the right hand over the left. It wreaks havoc on your mind,” she says. Today she uses her left hand for certain tasks and the right hand for others.
And definitely such rabid ostracisation of left-handers does result in an effect on the mind, concurs Dr Mini Rao, psychologist at a city-based hospital. “Parents may even force the child to eat with his/her right hand even though the child is far more comfortable with his/her left hand. As left-handers are a minority, sometimes it can lead to depression. Certain researches even imply that left-handers are more prone to mental illnesses like schizophrenia, dyslexia, ADHD and mood disorders.”
However, she is quick to add, this is merely the result of conditioning. “In conventional cases, left-handers are often able to multi-task better, think more quickly, and are more intelligent than right-handers as they get to use both sides of their brain. Left-handers make much better artists, musicians and sportsmen.”
Famous examples include artist and Renaissance man Leonardo Da Vinci, guitarist Jimi Hendrix and tennis star Rafael Nadal. They are also better at logical thinking, creativity and reasoning ability compared to their right-handed counterparts.
A left-hander being forced to switch hands is not the same as being ambidextrous. The latter are naturally skilful with both hands and are rarely discriminated in socio-cultural milieu. In fact being ambidextrous is considered a gift!
Rukmani agrees, saying that though she did have a tough time in the beginning, now she is able to wow her students because of her deftness at using both her hands while writing on the board. “They are very surprised to see that! Not to mention, one of the toppers of my class is a left-hander.”