Can you tell your left from your right?

[TeaAndCakeMakeThingsBetter]

Had a random conversation yesterday where a friend and I discovered that neither of us instinctively knew our left from our right. It was part of a conversation around neurodiversity and it got me wondering whether it’s just a random blip in our brains or part of something wider. So - do you just KNOW left from right or does it not come automatically? I also struggled at school with random bits of timetables (6/7/8s - could never remember the ones where the answers were somewhere between 40 and 50, but had absolutely no problem with maths overall and got straight As st GCSE. That’s not a boast, more just that it wasn’t linked to academic intelligence!). Am also left handed if that’s relevant (but still have to consciously think about which hand I write with if asked 🙈).

YABU- duh, obviously I can tell left from right 🙄
YANBU - No! I have to really think about which is which 🙈

Also struggle to tell which is naturally left and right. Either need to life my hand and see the “L” with your thumb or mimic writing because I’m right handed so the right hand will do the action. Still struggle with spelling and as a PP said about ‘necessary’ I still have to use the spelling devices such as ‘one collar, two socks’ for necessary or ‘there’s always a rat in separate’. But there’s quite a few words I can’t spell and word can’t figure out what I mean so I have to put random gibberish into google can work out what the hell I mean.

I have to move the hand on the side before I can tell if it’s left or right. I also can’t tell which is my side of the bed- if I stay in a hotel with DH I spend a long time trying work it out and even then get it wrong half the time.

Not at all! But I'm hyper mobile and I think it might have something to do with proprioception.

I am neurotypical (and in particular very much not dyslexic) but I have difficulty with this. I am also left-handed. It is a problem when giving and receiving directions whilst driving!

ETA: no problem with times tables

I always have to stop and think about it. If I'm in the car giving directions, for example, if I open my mouth to speak without taking a beat to think, I will always say "left" when I mean right (and vice versa).

I also had trouble learning how to tell the time, which perplexed me as a child because I was academically bright.

ETA: I'm right-handed.

As a child I struggled until I worked out that my right arm was the one I couldn't do the button up on my school shirt cuff - used to ask my dad to do it.

Then I knew which was right by thinking which arm I couldn't do the sleeve up, then it became instinctive. But I still feel I know my right better than my left - left is "not right"!

Yes I have to think about it (I usually raise one hand as if I'm going to write something, that will be my right hand so that's how I know which is right!).

I also have gaps in my times tables, and also have problems with some addition bonds (but higher level maths is fine - A level Maths & Further Maths, BSc Physics, MSc Stats).

I was diagnosed autistic as an adult.

I also find map-reading difficult (I manage it but often spend ages turning my phone around and facing different directions, and sometimes walking the wrong way for a while), remembering any sequence of instructions, and recognising faces out of context.

This thread explains why when cycling on a shared use path if I shout “passing on your right” 50% of people panic and run from side to side 😂

That’s made me laugh - that would totally be me 😂

No, not at all. Highly academic, humanities doctorate, pick up languages easily, was reading fluently long before I started school, but mathematically illiterate, poor number recall and can only remember phone numbers or car registration from their sound patterns.

It used to make it hilarious in ore- sat nav days when a similarly afflicted friend and I used to go on long road trips in her car. We just ended up pointing, because ‘right’ and ‘left’ didn’t really mean anything to either of us.

Yes, I would have no idea what you meant.

I've never thought about this, but this thread has now got me thinking.

I don't think I do instinctively know. Over the years I've conditioned myself to know, by remembering: (1) which hand I write with (2) which side of the car the steering wheel is on (3) which side of the road we drive on.

That's how I remember - in a situation where I need to know left from right I think quickly about one of those things, then I know!

Thanks for this thread, I've never given this any thought but now I have!

No. I’m NT, not dyslexic, I’m fine with numbers. I am left-handed, but then so were both my parents, and most of my siblings, one of my sons and two of my grandkids are, and none of them ever had any trouble knowing instinctively which is which.

I wear a ring on my left-hand and either feel for, or quickly glance at, it when giving or being given directions.

Goodness, yes, I couldn’t cope with this at all. I think I’d probably crouch down. (I have a PhD 😭)

Oooh. I struggle with face recognition as well! I know this is probably a self-selecting thread in that those of us who struggle will have been more likely to reply, but it’s so interesting that more people than I’d thought find it difficult! Wonder if there have been any studies linking all these things?

I don't have to think about it. I'm autistic too.

So interesting. I’m also academically high achieving but struggle with left and right and middle timestables. I’ve just been to a conference where they were talking about cognitive load. You had to think of three numbers then add 1 to each. So for example 352, then 462 etc. the whole point was that everyone struggles with the cognitive load of remembering the ever changing numbers….i struggled more than everyone else. I get on fine in life but definitely have weird quirks

😃

I'm autistic and have no issues with this, I'm really good at spatial awareness, reading maps, finding my way round places because I can visually picture where I am after a look at a map, same with driving somewhere I know which direction I'm facing and can plot a mental route even if I don't know the area.
I'm ambidextrous.

My intelligent creative daughter has never been able to tell left from right, learn times tables, read a clock. She is hugely dyslexic so maybe she also has dyscalculia. For ages I wasn’t very kind or sympathetic saying she just needed to sit down and learn left from right once and for all but the ‘L’ trick doesn’t work for her because of dyslexia!!

I cannot do left and right. When navigating I have to say your side/my side as my DH is the same. There is neurodivergence in my family (ADHD, AUDHD and dyslexia) but I do not have a diagnosis. Never had a problem with times tables (neurodivergents have memory issues so I would put this down to that).
I always thought my left/right issue was due to being largely ambidextrous. (I lost the use of my right hand for around 6 months and learnt to write and do everything with my left except spread butter).

Left and right are instinctive to me - I don't have to think about it.

I have struggled with this all my life. I have a great sense of direction and know exactly where I want to go, but giving directions I consciously have to think about whether it is left or right. It doesn't come naturally like knowing whether something is up or down.

I don't think I am neurodiverse, maybe I am, but not to the extend that i've ever thought of being tested. I am not stupid, I have a Masters degree. I also really struggle with those 3D puzzles which show you a shape and ask you to imagine it rotated or with a bit taken away.

Edited to add that I'm left-handed too.

I’ve seen similar. 😁 I always go slow and am prepared to stop.

OMG - green and orange - me too.

As in I might be asked, which colour sweet would you like? I’ll say, ‘Green please.’ I’ll get the green one and will be disappointed because I wanted the orange one but when I recall what I said I definitely said green but I meant orange, was thinking orange, looking at the orange one. But the word came out green. It happens so often.