A Left Handed Elephant or Left Handed Donkey?

Beinglefthanded wrote:

My fellow Americans, four of the last seven presidents have been left handed. The current presidential contest between Barack Obama and John McCain will result in another left handed president, because they are both southpaws. So it doesn’t matter who you favor, the result will be a lefty as the most powerful man in the free world.

Those Pesky Right-Handed Desks

Here's a web page that deals with one of my biggest complaints about discrimination against lefties, the right-handed desk:

http://www.handedness.org/action/fairdesks.html

Included are page-sized flyers you can print and then distribute at your school.

Writing Left Handed

Here's a (rather long) presentation on YouTube:

A Left-Handed Toothbrush?!

I recently had the opportunity to try a couple of toothbrushes from Radius, a company that manufactures a number of brushes with right and left hand orientation. I wondered, why bother with handedness in a toothbrush? Aren't the traditional straight brushes just fine? Maybe not. Radius brushes were designed to provide more effective cleaning by improving the brushing angle while reducing pressure on the teeth and gums and creating a comfortable grip. I tried two models, the Original and the Source. The Original has a wide handle with a nice indentation for the thumb. It fit comfortably in the palm of my hand. The bristles were soft and definitely gave full coverage to my gums. However, the large head was a bit too much for my small jaw. Reaching my back molars is a tight squeeze, and I wasn't sure I was getting there. This brush would be fine for someone who normally uses a full-sized adult toothbrush, but probably not for those who use small or children's sizes. The Source's smaller head suited me better. The handle is slimmer and more rounded, making it easier to manipulate when working on the more difficult spots. On both brushes, the bristles were soft and flexible, leaving the gums stimulated but not irritated.

The Source's replaceable heads can be inserted for either left or right orientation. Replaceable heads on a reusable handle mean reduced consumption of resources and less waste. I was really impressed by Radius's sensible approach to its environmental impact. Their website explains exactly what materials are used in the toothbrushes and packaging. They use recycled or recyclable materials, and some brushes are made from cellulose (made from renewable trees). Where they use nylon or oil-based products, they disclose that, too. Overall, the impression I got from the products, literature and website was very positive.

Of course, you probably won't find these brushes at the corner drug store. They don't fit into that little rack with the other brushes. But national chains like Whole Foods and the Vitamin Shoppe carry them. There's a list of stores on Radius's website, or they can be ordered online at http://www.radiustoothbrush.com.

Lefties With Super Memory?

Here's a story about brain researchers in Southern California who are investigating a rare group of people who can remember practically every day of their lives. Turns out most are left-handed. Click to read the details.

Beinglefthanded.com

A Reader wrote:

Hello Rosemary and all my fellow left-handers. I wanted to introduce you to an exciting website project that I have been working on for several months.

Being Left Handed

This site is a fun and informative website just for lefties. It contains useful information, instructions, and historical information about Being Left Handed. In addition to all this, I have included YouTube videos and live Ebay auction items, all for left-handed people. Last month my BeingLeftHanded store opened to supply all your left-handed needs. Future plans include the development of a Left-Handed Scholarship and many other left-handed ideas! This website is my passion and I work on it on a daily basis.

Thanks Rosemary for letting me introduce my website and I hope you will all come visit,
RC

life time lefty

A Reader wrote:

 
At 56 I have had a lifetime of doing things backwards and have overcome them all. Now however a new problem has me perplexed. I and another man, about 30, are learning to drive 18 wheeled tractor trailers. We are both having trouble backing up and starting off in a straight line to back up. We are both above average in all other training, we are both left handed. Our right handed classmates are days ahead of us on backing. Our instructor is right handed and can not understand our problem. Has anyone run into this same problem or have advice on where to go for help? I believe my problem has to do with perception of angles and depth in a left handed person.

Writing Weird

A Reader wrote:


So here's a little background. I was taught in the 90's when left-handed writing was never discouraged. However, I can't remember any teacher expressly giving writing directions to lefties either. All the way up to second grade I wrote some of my letters backwards (to the point where I failed a grade over not being able to form proper letters). I know in the FAQ it says that left handed children might do this, but I must have been especially dense to not correct in for three years. Anyway, I'm in honors and AP high school classes so no grudges to the teachers who got me here.

What's bothersome is that I hold a pen/pencil really weird. Searching for it on the internet, only one website I found mentions my approach at all: http://volume22.blogspot.com/2004/04/monkey-grip.html. He calls my way of writing a monkey grip. I love that nickname. Here is the picture they use: http://img1.photobucket.com/albums/1003/dvoyy/p11_124.jpg. When people talk about lefties having trouble holding a pen they don't even give this as an example. I use my ring and middle fingers to form words. The thumb holds the pen in my hand. I'm sure my penmanship would be ten times better with the method this and other left-hand specific websites say is best, but at seventeen I'm still pretty set in my way about writing. Between notes, homework, and random scribbling I can't change this particular bad habit while it is the quickest system for me to write. So, I'm just curious if the way I hold a pen is because I'm left-handed or am I just odd in that area?

Righties teaching lefties

This comment was recently posted by Trisha. Since it's buried in the comments to another post, not everyone may see it, so I want to quote it here: "Remember righty parents, EVERYTHING you're showing your child looks to them like you're doing it in a mirror. Try it looking in a mirror and see if it confuses you-if it does, seek an alternate route of teaching or another lefty to help."

Help for teachers and parents of left-handed children!!

A Reader wrote:


Just wanted to let visitors to your website know about our new website. Parents and teachers of young left-handed children will find it of particular interest.

Some background info: LeftHand N.Z. is a specialist lefty shop in New Zealand, created by a left-hander for left-handers and we have been supplying a full range of left-handed products by mail order for the last two years. We have recently developed a website:

http://www.lefthandnz.com

to make it easier for our loyal customers to access our information and products.

We specialise in helping teachers and parents of young left-handed children by providing information about how to teach a left-handed child:

* how to write comfortably and well as a left-hander and
* how to guide the young left-hander to improve their scissors skills.

We have two unique products in this area:

1: Our "Little Lefty Set" - which is a left-handed stationery set (for children approx. 3 to 8 years old)

2: Our "Write-on Wipe-off Workbook" for teaching handwriting skills to LEFT-handed children. Our Handwriting Workbook contains a STEP-BY-STEP learning programme for teaching handwriting, useful tips and guidelines for parents and teachers, LEFT-handed letter formations and laminated worksheets for endless practice. It is ideally suited for lefty children aged from 4 to about 7 years old. More information can be found on our website.

We can accept orders from other countries in the world apart from New Zealand. The process at this stage is a bit cumbersome but we are working towards a solution to make this much easier.

We invite you to visit our new website soon!

help.......

A Reader wrote:


Hello,
I was forced to use the right hand when I was 7 years. Today I am 53 years. I can write using my left hand, but I still feel kind of tense or rigid. I have been training since I was 21 years. But I feel messy yet.

Are there specific exercises, or drills so I can intensify my self training? You can suggest a site our a neuroscientist, maybe.

Thanks for your help and I apologize for my Italian-English; I am Brazilian born, but with an American soul!!


Celso
celsochini@gmail.com

Switching Through Necessity

Because of a problem with really painful tendonitis in my left shoulder, I have switched from using the mouse in my left hand to using it in my right hand. At first, this felt quite awkward, and there were times when I felt as though I just couldn't do what I wanted to do. Even so, the process turned out to be easier than I expected. After a few weeks I am using the mouse full time in my right hand, with only slightly less precision than I had when I used it in the left. I expect that it won't be long before I am just as good with the right as with the left.

This doesn't mean that I think switching handedness is easy! Not at all. But many right-handed people use the mouse with their left hand so that they can do other, more skilled tasks (such as writing) with the right. And many lefties use the mouse in the right hand for the same reason. Using a computer mouse doesn't really require the same level of skill, strength, or dominance that is called for in certain other jobs, especially handwriting.

Language

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