Being A Left-Handed or Both-Handed Person in a Seemingly Right-Handed World

For several years I have, from time to time, wondered about the cause of handedness because I am an enigma (at least to myself and some others I've known) when it comes to this subject. I write with my left hand but tend to think more in the ways right-handed people do. When it comes to some things I am clearly right-handed. I am absolutely without the imagination generally said to be associated with left-handedness. For some tasks I am without any natural preference for handedness, which can be a problem because there are times when I will pick up a fork and knife and not quite be able to figure out which hand should use which utensil. After a brief feeling of "short-circuiting" I settle on which hand feels most comfortable with which utensil. On the rare occasion when I use a needle and thread (and believe me, if I have any choice in the matter sewing by hand will always be a rare, last-resort, thing for me) both hands are equally comfortable. If I were to play baseball I'd be a right-handed batter and pitcher, and if I were to smoke (which I've been known to do) I would use either hand equally comfortably.

When I say that I've wondered about the causes of handedness for several years, part of that is because there was a time when far less was understood about handedness than there is today. Today more is understood about handedness; and while I've done a little bit of research on handedness from time to time, the last time I tried to find anything about the clear-cut cause(s) of it I could not. At one point in my adult life (the last thirty years or so), there was a time when the cause of handedness wasn't very well understood. In fact, I recall reading reference material in which the cause of handedness was said to remain unknown. Whether, in scientific circles, that has changed or not since then, I'm not sure. Not long ago I did try to find information on whether the cause of handedness is yet understood completely, but I had no luck with finding that (at least not within the time I had for looking into something for no particular reason other than curiosity).

One thing that I did find in my more recent "looking" was that a whole lot more is now understood about handedness than it was in the not-so-distant past. For example, it is now understood that not being "black-and-white" right- or left- handed isn't all that uncommon. Until fairly recent, and as someone who knows she's never been neither truly left-handed, right-handed, nor for that matter, truly ambidextrous; I've spent close to my whole life not ever hearing about anyone like me.

Since even in this day and age when science knows more about handedness, and when there's the Internet on which people could learn more about handedness; a lot of people aren't the sort who (or don't have the reason to) go looking up information on handedness "out of curiosity", I continue to live in a world that so often reminds me of how little people seem to know about handedness (particularly left-handedness).

While I've lived all my life knowing, at least within my own circles, there's always been a person here or there who has seen the generally minor matter of my own "iffy" handedness as "odd" or "peculiar" or "weird" (maybe even "somehow damaged in some way"), it mixed handedness hasn't been a big deal in my life, mostly because most people don't even know that I'm mixed-handed. Now, left-handedness has been a different thing; and since writing with one's left hand is what generally gets a person labeled as "left-handed", being left-handed has been something of a larger issue with which to live.

Although I grew up, and live in, and world, culture, and age in which people are a whole lot more enlightened about left-handed folks than they were in the past; I still grew up (and live with) a lot of the ignorance and even stigma that can be associated with being left handed. Some of it has been harmless. For example, because I write with my left hand people often automatically believe I'm a creative person. Really, as someone intimately familiar with my own strengths and weaknesses with the different types of cognitive skills (and as someone who has a fairly good understanding of what each type of skill relates to), I can tell you that my claim-to-fame will never involve being particularly creative (or at least not "creative" as the word is often defined by people who view being creative as being imaginative and artistic, and this, as far as I can tell, is the most common way people define "creative"). "Creativity" defined/viewed from a far less skills-focused perspective is a whole lot more than whether a person can write science fiction or produce a masterpiece on canvas. The fact is, however, that the average person usually isn't referring to the larger definition/view of creativity. Most often, he's referring to the narrower, more common, definition that includes the ability to imagine, come up with new ideas, and create art of one kind of another.

In any case, it's not the end of the world to have friends and family firmly believe one is creative when, in fact, one knows she is about as far from what they think she is as anyone could be. It's a little frustrating at times, but not, as I said, the end of the world. It's less harmless to live in a world where people are so aware of one's left-handedness that they may be more inclined to assume what he says is a matter of imagination, rather than fact.

It's less harmless to live in a world that has often come to associate creativity (real or imagined) with mental illness, even insanity. While it is certainly true that some correlation has been drawn between highly creative (artistic) people and mental health issues (and while I can certainly sympathize with high creative people who simply are not the least bit mentally ill), what has been particularly frustrating and aggravating to me has been that I'm not even someone with much of an imagination, and I've still had to live in a world where so many people associate mental illness (for one thing) with left-handedness.

My own frustrations and aggravations aside, and separate from whether or not some of the ignorance surrounding left-handedness is relatively harmless or extremely harmful in some cases; my real reason for writing here is that today (in 2011) I continue to see so many signs that the world still hasn't become all that enlightened about handedness. More importantly, and more to my point about why I write here, is that far too often adults' misguided and/or ignorant beliefs about left-handedness will result in children's suffering the consequences.

While I at least grew up in a time when the world had become far less superstitious and/or ignorant about left-handed people than it once had been, as recently as within the last few months I've seen some extremely disturbing ideas about left-handedness expressed online, and often about the individual's own left-handed child or family member. My mother used to say how when she was a child people would try to change their child's handedness, and when she would talk about that her comments were related to her own thinking of how misguided and ignorant thinking had been in the past. Someone on the Internet today would very likely be able to find all kinds of references to changing a child's handedness that make it clear that the world hasn't come as far from the thinking of my mother's childhood era as I'd once assumed it had.

I have my own suspicions/theory about how handedness develops in human beings, but the focus of this discussion isn't on the cause (or possible) cause(s) of handedness. My focus here is on being someone lives with less than clear-cut handedness, but also less than clear-cut ambidextrousness. Later here I'll remark a little on my own guesses about handedness, but that, again, is neither my reason/focus for writing here nor the point(s) that I'm aiming to make.

My handwriting is not the handwriting of a left-handed person, and I don't twist my hand the way most lefties do.

At the same time, however, I do have some of strengths that are often associated with left-handed people. I can't claim to be ambidextrous, as far as I know, because I've always assumed "ambidextrous" (in its "purest form") would mean using both hands at all times for all things, which I don't do.

Since left-handed is said to be more often associated with males (which I am not), I've always assumed (in my non-expert mind) that brain chemicals or hormones must play in a role in favoring left-handedness. Since there are substances that are present in both genders but in higher levels in one gender or another; and since brain chemicals or hormones can be affected by environment and/or an infant's sense of physical/emotional security; and since there are variations in levels of substances between individuals and in the same individual at different times; I've developed my own theory that it could be the level of one or more hormones or chemicals present in an infant at the point of maturity where handedness is established that may contribute to what determines handedness.

My theory, though, goes beyond the influence of the combination of brain chemicals/hormones and includes the possibility that the rate of development of one or more parts of an infant's brain could shift the point in time where a certain combination of hormones/chemicals join with the level of brain development to establish handedness. Further, there is also the chance that as a baby's brain matures his degree of feeling uncertain in his new world could diminish as his experiences have shown him that he can relax and feel secure. One other factor I've considered is that with their gender and the hormones associated with it, baby boys may tend to feel more physically sure than baby girls do; but there is also the chance that baby boys, for reasons of their levels/combinations of brain chemicals/hormones could actually lean more towards feeling less physically sure than baby girls do.

To bring the issue back to my own handedness and abilities, I've often wondered if I was a particularly secure little girl who had a brain that developed a little more quickly, and if, for example, I could have had a higher level of some substance that may have contributed to that solid feeling of being secure. I've wondered if I just inherited the tendency to have the combination of brain chemicals/hormones that may have actually triggered a slightly faster brain development. Also, though, I've wondered if, instead, I was a baby who maybe felt a little insecure and had the brain chemicals/hormones associated more with stress or fight-or-flight (which boys tend to have more than girls), and whether my left-handed writing wasn't supposed to have occurred in a girl who otherwise exhibited the traits of a righty.

Something else I've considered, though, is that there's at least the chance that the development of different areas of the brain is more "evenly distributed", rather than not, may actually mean that brain has developed more in keeping with a more "whole brain approach" (rather than a more "isolated-areas way") that, perhaps, brains are intended to develop. In fact, I've even gone as far to wonder if it's actually more "ideal" to write and use a fork with one's left hand but do most other things with the right. After all, using one's left hand for writing and eating (one task involving communication and expression, the other involving the all-important task of eating; and yet both being "more delicate" tasks than those requiring more strength and therefore being more at risk of injury).

Yes, I'm actually indulging in allowing myself to consider that my handedness may actually be more ideal and/or even more in keeping with what evolution may have "had it mind". After a lifetime of living in a world as a left-handed person, I think it's time someone finally speak up and point out that being left-handed (or left-handed when it comes to writing and eating) may actually be more desirable. In fact, I'll take this self-indulgence even farther by suggesting that there's even the possibility that the person whose handedness is "less ingrained" (perhaps indicated when a person's is ambidextrous to one extent or another) may actually mean the individual has inherited and/or developed more adaptability (useful in the event of injury).

There is the chance that writing with one's left hand but doing everything else as either a righty or a "both-y" would mean that injuring the right hand would not stop a person from the more delicate and intellectual task of writing - so in essence the writing hand could be reserved for nothing but that. (I don't know.... Its just something I've wondered about.)

I've wondered, too, whether we're really intended to be "both-ies" when it comes to writing and if our brains developed in a more "evenly distributed way" (or even ideal way) when it comes to handedness because of the connection between the verbal processing of the brain and the writing that results from it. Being a "both-y" when it comes to writing would mean that writing by hand wouldn't be as "connected" to a side of the brain that would be more dominant than the other in any individual. Not only that, but using both either hand for writing would also mean the individual wouldn't have to worry about injury to either hand (again, obviously a more ideal situation). In fact, I've even wondered whether we're supposed to have as substantial a gap between dominant and non-dominant hemispheres at all. There's at least the chance the idea situation would be for everyone's brain to develop with more "balance".

Then again (and I'm dead serious about this) I've also wondered whether my own (unusual, I guess) mix of dominant hemisphere and writing hand might just be the result of what would amount to minor brain damage before, during, or shortly after birth. Maybe I was "supposed to be" a right-handed person and something just went a little off kilter brain-chemicals-wise. I never had any problems in school (to the contrary). In fact, I didn't notice any discomfort when I wrote or drew with my left hand as a grade-school child. When I began to notice it was when what I had to write involved a whole lot more thinking and writing than grade-school work generally did.

It has occurred to me that as we get beyond grade school we're often more likely to have stress, which could, I'm supposing, affect which areas of our brains we call upon when accomplishing one task or another. Still, I noticed the problem at times when I was completely without stress and entirely happy to be writing whatever it was I was writing.

My Rh-negative mother had me after she had one other child and one miscarriage, and I'm Rh-positive; so maybe there was something going on with antibodies or the condition that leads to them that resulted in whatever caused my brain to develop in the directions it did.

We do know, though, that infants and children tend to go through inward and outward
phases of growth in cycles. We know that handedness tends to show up in babies as early as four months old. It just seems to make sense to me that the particular blend and level of the combination of brain chemicals/hormones at the time when any one, individual, brain is in the process of forming handedness could play a role. We also know that the degree to which each of the different types of cognitive skills are developed in one person or another varies greatly. Something else we know is that a baby's external environment (nurturing) and internal environment (brain chemicals) affect the development of the different parts of the brain. The rate/age (particularly "months-wise" in infancy) at which each part of a child's brain develops also varies within an age range that is considered to be "normal" and within average range.

The brain that develops either more quickly or more slowly than average when it comes to the part of it related to handedness may not just be at the mercy of the "mix" of brain chemicals/hormones present at any given point in development. Maybe the factors that lead to the different rate of development contributed to the blend/level of brain chemicals/hormones as well. It could just be a cycle, or it could be a cycle with a specific point at which the cycle makes it stamp on development.

Science has linked heredity to handedness. My own guess, if my "theory" is at anywhere close to correct would be that, as with many things involving heredity, there's the chance that heredity may involve a tendency to be more prone, or less prone, toward having higher or lower thresholds for development to be significantly impacted by external or internal factors. In other words, if it were possible have the exact same baby with slightly different genes (associated only with the handedness issue), there's the chance that same baby's brain development might not be affected by the same external/internal environment at any given moment during the "handedness development" stage.

A Note About Boys, Left-Handedness, and Testosterone

Left-handedness is said to occur more often in boys, and testosterone has been linked to left-handedness. Obviously, that offers some explanation (or partial explanation) as to why boys may become left-handed more often than girls. Something else occurs to me, though, and that it that I think there's at least the chance that some baby boys may actually be more vulnerable to be made to feel less secure in infancy either was result of genetics or the differences that can exist in the ways some parents nurture their baby boys, or both. While some baby boys may have inherited some traits that make them more vulnerable to the "less snugly" and/or "less gentle" treatment that parents (often fathers) sometimes are more likely to apply to girls; a lot of baby boys have parents who are just the slightest bit (and sometimes more than that) less gentle with baby boys than with girls. I've always suspected that some of the thinking/cognitive development differences said to be (observed to be) associated more with one sex or the other may result from the combination of baby boys, perhaps, actually requiring more "gentle treatment" than baby girls may, simply because there's the chance the testosterone factor may play a larger role in the development of baby boys' brains.

Returning to My Own, Somewhat Ambiguous, Handedness

The fact that I lack the imagination to be very creative in the way someone like, say, a science fiction writer can, tells me that the "creative part" of my brain is not as "equally developed" as at least some brains (although maybe not my own, needless to say) have the potential of being. There's also the chance that my brain developed in a whole different set of areas than the brain of a more creative individual has. That kind of goes along with the fact that I tend to think like right-handed people do. The fact, though, that I'm part righty, part both-y, and part lefty kind of explains why I also do better than a lot of righties do when it comes to thinking like a lefty (even if I'll never write science fiction). By that I mean that while I'm at the complete opposite end of the scale from, say, my extremely artistically talented daughter (at least as far as artistic talent goes); I'm also at a very different end of the scale from people who are clearly very "math/science-only and no-frills" type people with little obvious aesthetic sense. I've got enough aesthetic sense to create that impression in others that I'm "creative" (and in fairness to people who think aesthetic sense and creativity are the same thing, I suppose that's why some have been under the impression that I'm creative when I'm just not). The world is full of people (right-handed or left-) who have the aesthetic sense to wrap a gift beautifully, create a beautiful decor in a room, or know just where which flowers will look best in the yard, but who are not particularly creative. They know how to arrange things in a pleasing way, and they may know how to select colors. The kinds of tasks I've just mentioned here are tasks that involve arranging and selecting what already exists - not imagining and creating what does not.

Some people associate my being a writer with being creative. Again, I'm not creative. If anyone were to read much of what I write he'd see that, as a writer, I'm arranging words that already exist (although I'll occasionally make up a word for fun, but that doesn't count). Often, when I write about a "human-related" subject (as opposed to writing about an object or a place) I take what already exists in my mind (what I know about myself and human nature in general, as well as what I know about grammar use and sentence structure), and then I'll arrange words in a way that I believe will make them most effective. My own writing comes from my appreciation of, sense of, the value and use of the order and structure of words - such a completely different thing from being creative and coming up with a novel or short story. So, my own writing if often not just a matter of arranging words. It's a matter of arranging memories or other information I've stored away in "mental files". Being very much someone who arranges and keeps in good order a sound "filing system" for those "mental files", I'm aware that (as with arranging words), most of what goes into my writing is a matter of arranging one thing or another. It's just not creative (even when I've dabbled in "creative writing" but used my usual approach to produce something).

While I am not qualified to state that my so-called theory of handedness is correct, and while I may not have sufficiently explained all the factors and considerations I've used to form my theory, it seems to me that it does offer a kind of "puzzle-pieces-fit-together" scenario that could mean that while my belief about what could cause handedness may not tell the complete story it seems unlikely that it can be all that off-base.

Whether or not my so-called theory is anywhere near accurate isn't the point here. Neither is it the real reason I've decided to ponder the mysteries of ambiguous handedness in writing here. The real reason I wanted to write about handedness stems from so much of that stuff that I've seen online that indicates how little people so often still understand about handedness - particularly left-handedness. It's 2011. I thought that whatever progress in thinking about left-handedness had been made by the time I was growing up was a sign that by now the world would certainly have ended all those old fashioned, destructive, myths that left-handed people (particularly children) ought to be taught to use their right hand for writing, that left-handed people are either crazy or possessed, or that there are any number of other reasons why parents of children who write with their left hand ought to be concerned (and disappointed).

I'll share something here: I grew up knowing that at least some adults were paying attention to SOME things about me because they had it in their heads that people who write with their left hand are reasons to be concerned. It didn't help that I also grew up knowing that at least SOME adults were paying attention to SOME things I did because - "horror of all horrors" - I also happened to be a middle child. It didn't help that I was "freakishly" small and young looking. That just added to the whole picture of a kid who was, at best, "odd" and at worst, "a reason for concern".

So, there I was - a perfectly happy and normal kid being watched in one way or another (or talked about between adults for one reason or another), wishing that some of those guilty parties (and my parents were generally "the best parents" in the world in most ways) would stop looking for signs of something wrong with me, in me, or about me. It was, in the end, all fine because I grew up and learned not to pay attention to people who were essentially ignorant. Still, feeling that people are watching for "signs" that something is wrong isn't as good as not feeling that way. In fact, there were times when I'd occasionally do some "stupid" thing that all kids do, and I'd get the feeling that what I'd done was being viewed as confirmation that, in fact, my left-handedness meant I was more prone to being "a problem" than right-handed kids were.

Once I grown, of course, people knew better than to vocalize thoughts about left-handedness (or "The Middle Child Thing"), but that didn't mean they'd realized there was nothing "off" about me, in all my left-handedness (which is particularly ludicrous in view of the fact that I'm not really left-handed with anything but writing).

I do have one cousin who is very much left-handed. That helped some. She and I were a "club of two" that adults would have to be watching. It was good to have a left-handed "buddy" who saw it as "an interesting thing" - and not particularly a problem or a sign of "weirdness". Still, throughout the whole extended family, it was well known (and often talked about) that my cousin and I were the "only" left-handed people in the family (and probably, as far as I can tell, throughout that family's entire ancestral history, all the way, to (maybe) the beginning of time??) The thing about my cousin, however, was that she had been born with a condition that would result in her struggling with physical disabilities and surgeries throughout childhood. People weren't really spending a lot of time paying attention to HER left-handedness.

I, on the other, had nothing (apparently) that anyone noticed without also noticing that I was left-handed (and a middle child and a very small girl). I was a perfectly healthy, perfectly able-bodied, kid who caused my parents far less worry and trouble than a lot of other kids did. I did well in school (and behaved well), had friends, and just generally got along without any big problems whatsoever.

Even if my parents had "paid attention" to the left-handed thing, they were almost the least of the problems. As I said, they were good parents and knew enough not to make too big of a deal out of the handedness thing. (My mother could have been better at hiding whatever "awareness of left handedness" she did have.) Still, it wasn't really my parents who were solely responsible for my having grown up feeling as if "the world" was ignorant about left-handed people. It was "the world".

Today, in 2011, we have the Internet, which now lets us see what a lot of other people still think about a lot of things; and considering how late in the history of mankind 2011 is, degree of enlightenment that HAS occurred over time is still far, far, from what it should be.

I'm grown up now. I can work and socialize in circles where a lot of the kind of ignorance to which I refer just doesn't exist. My left-handedness (or partial left-handedness, anyway) doesn't present problems for me. The problems I now run into are associated seeing (usually on the Internet, but certainly not always) that many people are still not sure if there's something "off" about left-handed others (and particularly children). There are still those questions about whether a child should be "trained" to use his right hand to write. There are still insinuations that writing with the left hand is a sign of something "off". I can't believe I'm saying this, but there are still those people who are superstitious (and worse) about left-handedness.

So, as I sit at my computer and see some of these things (often being asked on sites or sections of sites dealing with parenting), all I can do is imagine that out there somewhere is some little left-handed kid being watched, worried about, and even eyed with suspicion because he has found himself among the percentage of the population whose handedness has spawned clubs and groups and special products for this minority (albeit large one) of folks who (as far as I'm concerned) are far bigger a mystery to right-handed others than - really - they ever should have been.


So, below is my message to the world. Anyone who has no need to see this message can disregard it, and I know that many people simply are not so ignorant that they need to read this message.)

Being left-handed (or sort of left-handed) is not a weird thing to be. Yes, fewer people are left-handed than are right-handed; but fewer people have blue eyes than brown eyes, and nobody seems to think they're possessed! (Although I have heard a person or two express distrust of people with blue eyes.)

It is now understood (by professionals/experts) that people aren't always "all one thing or another" when it comes to handedness. What this means, of course, is that writing with one's left hand doesn't necessarily mean a person is creative. The "creative myth" kicked in and caused me problems even once I was grown, because my left-handed writing led SOME people to suspect that when I spoke I was "being creative" (lying, sort of lying) with that "great imagination" so many people just assumed I "must have".

It hasn't helped that in more recent decades there has become more popular knowledge (or partial knowledge) about the hemispheres of the brain, because now every Tom, Dick and Mary thinks he can read a person's hemisphere by what hand that person uses to write. What this means is that every Tom, Dick and Mary may well believe a left-handed child, family member, friend, or anyone else is "ruled" by the hemisphere that's associated with "emotional thinking", rather than logic and reason. This doesn't help when a left-handed writer is dealing with Tom, Dick or Mary and expects them to take for granted that what he says is accurate, well reasoned, and logic-based. I've never much cared for the saying, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," but - really - a little knowledge can be a very destructive thing - especially for someone who has experienced being the victim of other people's "little knowledge" about whether or not someone who writes with her left hand MUST be "emotional" and/or prone to imagination, exaggeration and/or creativity in general.

Of course, creativity IS associated with one hemisphere. Nobody questions that. What people need to realize, however, is that 1) there can be variations in handedness, 2) that hemisphere dominance is not as simple as many "a little knowledge" people have come to believe it must be, and 3) creativity is another one of those things that brings on worries about whether a person may be "prone to mental illness" (even insanity). Why this is one of those things people need to realize is that the "worry" about creativity is yet another one of those things that can make some people assume the creative person is odd or weird or prone to mental illness. This is yet another one of those "a little knowledge" areas that lead some people to grossly over-estimate any connection between a high degree of creativity and mental illness.

(I've been fortunate, I suppose. The only thing people have ever had to associate me with creativity is my left-handedness and the fact that I can put together a nice gift bag or holiday table. Anyone who ever reads any of my writing will see how un-creative I am.

It's different for people who ARE creative. Truly creative people tend to express their creativity, which, in itself, can sometimes be misinterpreted. If someone as "non-creative-thinking and acting" as I am can have lived with as many subtle "messages" about left-handedness as I have; I can only imagine how many messages are sent in the direction of the child who is both left-handed AND outwardly and obviously "a creative type".

What may interesting to note about my own situation, however, is that while I do and say so very little that would at all be viewed as "creative", some people haven't even seemed to notice how "average" or "mainstream" a person I am; and, instead, seem to have focused on my left-handed writing. In other words, my left-handed writing is a far bigger deal to some other people than it has been in reality; and, in fact, it has apparently overshadowed who/what I really am, at least in SOME people's eyes/minds. THAT is the real message here, and it's what makes me realize that the matter of left-handedness is big enough to have overshadowed all about me that is boring or "regular" or "mainstream" or "unremarkable" and actually played some role in the way some people have viewed me, regardless of all the other things about me that should have so much more impact on their impression of who/what I am than my writing hand does.)

My message to parents of left-handed children is that they should aim to make sure their child knows that writing with one's left hand just isn't a big deal - or a sign of being anything or thinking any way in particular. It's just one of the many, many, small things that can be different from one person to another. Parents (no matter how "good" they are about this) need to be aware that this is still sometimes a world that will send a child one of those ignorant messages about left-handedness. A person's handedness (whether that be left-handedness or mix) shouldn't come between him and those people who can't seem to get past it, in their ignorance about "concerns" about left-handed people. It's not enough for parents (or others) to "just say" that being left-handed "is not different". They must truly accept and understand that, and if they don't then I'd recommend some solid reading of sound reference material from well established and expert resources. Don't stop with one or two pieces of reading from one or two sources. Parents who are suspect, or even just a little concerned, about a child's left-handedness should find several legitimate resources until they have read enough to have been convinced that there just plain is NOTHING weird or odd about left-handedness.

As far as superstitions go, I suppose there will be no convincing the superstitious that "left" is a perfectly normal, harmless, thing; and I suppose the children of the superstitious have bigger problems than whether or not their parent watches and worries over their handedness.

It's not as if the left-handed issue has been some big, obvious, problem throughout my life. It's not as if I've run into times or places when there were signs, "No Left-Handed People Need Apply" or "Right-Handed Only" signs on restrooms. Neither is it as if I haven't lived in a world that so often clearly understands that handedness is no big deal, because a whole lot of people have known that for a very long time. That's the thing, though: The messages and the ways people's ignorance about left-handedness have come through over my lifetime have always been in small, subtle, ways and over an issue that is so "well established" as a non-issue among so many people.

Right-handed people haven't grown up with "the left-handed thing". Creative left-handed folks may have grown up with their own variety of messages from the world, and maybe to them being left-handed is nothing more than a smaller part of a lot of other, larger, things that make up who and what they are.

The way I see it, maybe the non-creative left-handed folks are really the only ones who would notice "not being seen" beyond their handedness. Then, too, there are plenty of math/science types whose "type" has been well established in the eyes of others as that "math/science" (logic/reason) kind of person, which, in itself, has its own set of misguided messages and assumptions to be dealt with. I suppose, maybe, the left-handed math/science people, like the creative sort, must deal with people's tendencies to stereotype to the point that any messages about "weirdness" aren't focused on the person's left-handedness.

The way I see it, my problem stems mostly from the fact that I'm a logic/reason kind of thinker who happens to "specialize" more verbal/human areas (and in a world that often tends to associate writing with creativity, and that doesn't tend to associate "human-nature matters" with logic and/or reason). My problem - as I see it- has always been that the world doesn't understand enough about non-fiction writer-types to understand that writing and creativity don't always go hand-in hand. The other part of my problem, as I see it, has always been that the world too seldom understands that the person whose interests/skills lie in the areas associated with understanding one's self and others, as well as relating to them, just may be a "logic/reason kind of person", rather than an "emotional/creative" type.

So, how much any other left-handed people have lived with the kind of things that I've lived with all my life, I don't know. All I know is that the left-handed issue has, in those subtle ways, reared its proverbial ugly head from time to time over the course of my life. Since, over the course of my life, I've always seen any subtle messages/problems resulting from the left-handed issue as "minor in the scheme of life", it's never really been anything I've talked about or written about. With the exception of my curiosity about not being entirely left-handed, I've never thought a whole lot about some of the things people sometimes think about left-handedness. I've just always lived with it and haven't known life any other way. I'm sick of it, though; and these days, when I see someone online who is asking about whether he should train his child to use his right hand; or worse, someone online who suggests that the devil may be involved with a five-year-old-child's left-handedness, I just think how this is an issue that may, in fact, be one about which people really should be talking and writing - even in 2011.

There may well be a big difference for left-handed people who have grown up and/or live in circles where the majority of people they deal with are very well educated and informed, and people who come from middle-class, working class, or lower-income circles. When US presidents are left-handed they get their names listed on those lists of "famous lefties". When SOME children in less lofty circles, and who happen to be left-handed, may find they're less likely be associated with leadership than with witchcraft, evil and/or insanity (or at least being at risk of any of those things). One question I have about any differences in how different left-handed people experience things is whether it's different for girls who are left-handed than it is for left-handed boys.

Looking back on my own experiences as a left-handed child, it does occur to me that the fact that I grew up in a working-class neighborhood and attended neighborhood, public, schools may have had some impact on how well informed people I ran into were (particularly in a time when far less was understood about handedness than it is today). Maybe if there had been some more left-handed people in my little, personal, circles; a few of those right-handed people in those circles wouldn't have viewed left-handedness as being quite so peculiar.

Even in 2011, however, it turns out that there are still a lot of misguided people when it comes to the matter of left-handedness, and a lot of those people are showing up on the Internet and expressing their concerns about their left-handed child.

I've typed up all these words about left-handedness using both of my perfectly capable (and free of demons and evil) hands on behalf of left-handed children who shouldn't have to live several decades of life before it finally hits them that the messages they've gotten all their lives about left-handedness aren't just wrong (left-handed people usually know that). They are damaging and destructive in ways even left-handed people, themselves, may not immediately recognize.