Is being left-handed a non-issue these days?

[Svanhildur]

Just wondering because DS looks like he's going to be left-handed. Thankfully we have moved past the days when this would be 'corrected' at all and I'm sure that in the grand scheme of things it is of very small significance. But I'm sure the world is designed for righties in a way that I don't always notice, being right-handed myself.

Those of you who are left-handed, does it cause any annoyances in your everyday lives or would you say that now the stigma is gone, that being left-handed is basically a non-issue?

I’m left handed but do EVERYTHING except write with my right hand. My mum once bought me some left handed scissors and I turned them round and used them in my right hand. Someone once gave me a left handed pen and I couldn’t use it. I played guitar as a teenager and learned how to do it easily right handed.

Note books are a bit of a pain but manageable. I will say my handwriting is a bit shit but as a kid I had the same very draconian teacher for years as I was learning cursive writing. She was the generation that would have tied my hand behind her back 30plus years earlier so while she didn’t do anything to me she also didn’t make any accommodations like kids get now, tilting the page for example. Teachers further along in primary school tried to teach me to do it but by that time it was too late. My hand writing hasn’t really gotten any better since I was 7 years old, just smaller!

Yes yes yes to seating plans. I didn’t find teachers were too thrilled with my idea that if my daughter just swapped seats with the person sitting next to her, there would be no more jogging each others elbows.

Apologies if it's already been said, but it's mostly a non-issue (in that thankfully no-one is going to force him to try to change hands)
In this country probably, depending on strictness of religious adherence .....
forcing kids to be right handed still goes on lots and lots

be thankful for the civil liberties of the UK

I’m left handed and I can’t cut bread to save my life. Also the forks in Druckers are all right handed which makes it hard for me to eat my cake gracefully but apart from that it’s a non issue*.

*apart from the million regular comments from people who seem to be surprised by the concept.

Tin openers are a real problem the only ones I can use are the really old fashioned basic ones. Struggle too with vegetable peelers and cutting bread. Generally though it’s not a huge problem

I’m left handed and I can’t cut bread to save my life.
Do you not make sure that all of your knives are symmetrical ?
I have been doing that for 30 years and have no issue with any cooking utensils

I'm left handed. I learnt sign language and sewing fine but no one will teach me to knit. Only issue I've had is my nan fucked up my cross stitch aged 8 by starting a row (she's right handed). Oh and lots of smudged work at school when we had to use fountain pen.

Lefties are statically more likely to die younger

DH is a leftie, he was told by an actuary who'd examined the data that this is not true. It is a statistical artefact arising from the fact that left-handers used to be forced to become right handers, but this practice has more or less died out. The result is that numbers of left handers were artificially low in people who'd reached old age at the time that 'lefties die younger' statistic was generated.

(The same phenomenon accounts for recent reports of religious people living longer - it's a statistical artefact caused by the decreasing religiosity of each generation.)

Despite my teacher tying my left hand behind my back at school (yes it was a long time ago) and trying to get me to write with my right hand, I remained left handed. Never been much of a problem, have left handed scissors etc., but I do have a problem with tin openers as well, as for cutting bread, I end up with huge doorsteps!

Sadly it's a myth that left handed people are creative/use the right hand part of their brain.

I'm left handed and can't write in ringbinders, spiral bound notebooks, on whiteboards, blackboards or clipboards without great difficulty. The electronic pen when you sign for parcels is always on the wrong side on a short wire so I just do a scribble with my right hand. My left handed sibling had to teach me how to tie shoe laces. No one told me I could put the computer mouse on the left, so it took me ages to get to grips with it but now I can use both equally. It took me longer than most how to read a clock, and it wasn't until I saw a 'left handed clock' that I realised things like that could make a difference. I had to give up Karate because I couldn't get to grips with reversing the example. I'm crap at cutting bread because the blade of knives is angled the wrong way. I can't get through a shift in work without someone commenting about it. These things are barely a hardship though and I like being a lefty. I'm disappointed none of my kids are.

That's interesting dragon I'd heard it many times before but it was Doctor Alex off Love Island that had the clumsy mistake = death theory and I liked it!

Hope for a long life yet then!

Only been an issue learning a racquet sport but that's down to teacher.

Scissors can be painful if used for long periods. It I have a fab pair of left handed scissors that are mine only!!!

They are used for crafts and wrapping gifts. Kitchen acissors are just ordinary Ines.

Only thing that annoys me (and I see my children doing now) is smudging my writing

Oh and I find can openers awkward

I'm crap at cutting bread because the blade of knives is angled the wrong way.
buy a symmetrical bread knife

I dont like being left handed. I am gauche and my handwriting was terrible as a child as I was copying right handed friends.

Safety cut off switches in fume hoods are not in an easy to access with your left hand spot.

Smudging if you write hook hand.

Ticket access being on the wrong side at stations.

Pens not reaching for electronic signing.

All very minor but utterly frustrating.

I’m very very left handed though...my manual dexterity with my right is shocking (eg I can’t feed the ticket into a machine right handed so have to reach across).

I've never heard of left handed having a stigma to it, I don't know if it's my age but doubt it. I'm 25.
I'm left handed but never had it affect me in any way I use to have strawberry blonde hair as a kid and I've got blue eyes so I guess I don't fit into the majority 😂

Some things are annoying but overall I love being left handed.

I’m 45 and never noticed any “stigma”

I've never heard of left handed having a stigma to it, I don't know if it's my age but doubt it. I'm 25.
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Never been to an Islamic country then .........

I'm left handed. Stupid things like can openers I have to kind of stop and think about before I can work them. And if you learn to play guitar you have to play it backwards! Scissors as well, I have to use my right hand (awkwardly).

My dd is left handed. I don’t know anyone in my family who is either

She’s doing just fine though her handwriting needs a lot of work. It’s very messy. But she will get there

You'll need playing cards with the number on all 4 corners or he'll fan them out and get a hand of blanks staring at him! That's my main gripe.

So, no, it's not a thing to worry about!

I'm left handed in my thirties and in general it's not a biggie.
I tilt the paper when I write and as a teacher I've had to develop a particular board pen hold so I don't rub the writing off just after a write it!

It was a pain when I was younger and I wanted to learn to knit and crochet but my mum found it really hard to teach me the other way round. I still can't do either thing!

But not massively life altering.