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 🙈

Not immediately no. I'm left handed and my mum is the same, but worse. She doesn't even get it after a few seconds.

I have to put my left hand in an L shape and say 'L for left' in my head.

I once had this job where I had to use a clicker to count the flow of pedestrians. Obviously I got it totally wrong because the pedestrians were moving from left to right, or vice versa. I was marking the ones coming from the left as left, rather than right.

You can see how confusing it could be right?!

But there's nothing to get? You can just learn it? It's not a concept. Like others have said, you can use a method to work it out if you need to.

No, I often get them mixed up and have to think consciously which is which - but sometimes it's as if my brain goes off on a little jolly of its own and even thinking carefully about it, I get it wrong.

One reason why I have never managed to learn to drive; can't synch up indicators reliably with steering.

I am AWFUL with face recognition though!

I have to actively think about L and R. Many people struggle with remembering 7x8 = 56. My quirk is if you rattle off a phone number or spell out a name quickly, my mind freezes. Likewise, if I have to spell something out loud I actively have to think about it or draw it out in the air at the same time, although when writing my spelling is fine.

I have to look at my hands to tell left from right.

I have this. It's even worse if someone's facing me and says something on the left/right. I just tell my family to point in whichever direction they mean

Probably easier to say what you want them to do, move left, rather than confuse by mentioning right, though that won't help those who can't tell the difference.

I don’t instinctively know. Nor does my mum.

During my driving test, the examiner said “my way/your way”, which I doubt was allowed.

I’ve heard this phrased as knowing left/right just as instinctively as you know up/down and I’ve never met anyone who knows it that instinctively (when the conversation has come up, it doesn’t a lot to be fair).

I think this is the thing - it SHOULD come automatically, and yes you can learn techniques, but when under pressure it’s like your brain shortcircuits and it often comes out wrong. And it doesn’t seem to be linked to people’s general ability to learn or remember things! Just a weird blip.

It's hard for some of us...

Neurodiversity runs through my family.
I am ok with left and right, but struggle to remember East and West. Certain middle times tables (7x8 for example) would not stick whilst I could answer all others in mixed order at speed.

I have zero spatial awareness but have never had trouble with right & left.

No, but I am dyspraxic

Spatial awareness - I have none. I bump into things all over the place. I also cannot see a straight line for love nor money. I cannot line things up in a straight line. I don't walk in a straight line - always veer off, mostly to the left.
I am exceedingly clumsy. Can't catch a ball. Totally uncoordinated.

That made me giggle. I generally do know my left from right without thought, except when I'm giving directions! My partner asks ' actual right/left or your right/left', as I wave my right hand saying go left 🫣

I’m ambidextrous so have always struggled. Add to that I then became a dentist, where ambidextrous is a bonus but we also chart everything back to front.

It confuses patients who often describe pain on “my left, your right” but of course we examine the mouth while sat behind them so our left and right is the same. It’s just the chart that is reversed. It’s actually done that way so if you look at the chart it’s the same as if you are looking at the patient from the front. But of course patients self examine in a mirror so it appears in reverse to them.

I learnt very early on in my relationship with DH that hand signals worked best while navigating. And when DS came along he would correct me constantly. Neither of them can understand how I still get mixed up. Interestingly like me they are both ambidextrous, they are right handed but play sports ( cricket, golf) left handed. Both of them bat left handed but bowl right handed. We are an odd family. DS’s DB is left handed but plays sports right handed.

Another thing I can't do, and I've given up trying, is understanding which way the clocks go back and forward in Spring and Autumn.

I've tried so hard but my brain just can't compute it. Do I get an extra hour in bed or lose one? Does it feel like 8 o'clock when it's really 7? If it says 8 o'clock what was it yesterday at the same time?

Same when I travel, do I put my watch back or forward?

Due to working with international teams I have memorised some facts like: to talk to my colleagues in India I need to call them in my morning, and to talk to New York it's my afternoon.
^God I'm even doubting this now, I just can't do timezones!

How interesting! I’ve never heard of this before, I just assumed everyone knew !

Ha ha. Nonsense!

I have the straight lines issue. I have to populate a lot of spreadsheets in my job and I'm always getting the lines mixed up. I have glasses to correct astigmatism so it isn't my eyesight.

Try “ spring forward, fall back “ , this is the only way I can understand it !

I know my left hand is the one with my wedding ring on. But I have no instinctive sense of it.

Catholic here, we never forget.