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 🙈

”He drank his port, the red wine, and left.”

Yes, I struggle with it. When I'm doing a yoga video I have to look and see which leg (for example) the teacher has got forward, so that I can copy. But they say "step your left foot forward" and then appear to be doing it on the right! But that's probably more a 'mirror' thing. I once remarked that my hairdresser was left handed and she said "I'm not!". It was the mirror!
Also reversing the car, because the left and right are the wrong way round (aren't they?!).

I can’t, I have to do the whole what thumb and finger make an L shape. Also when people say, your left or my left, my brain goes into mayhem.

"everyone who thinks differently to me is a moron"

Mature

Once it was explained to me it was obvious. Near side is the side closest to the kerb.

Motorways I always use lane 1, 2 and 3

Pretty much that. One I was told was “No red port left”.

To remember necessary, chant the mnemonic Never Eat Chips, Eat Salad Sandwiches And Remain Young.

Works so well, I don't even need the mnemonic any more!

Must be very strange having no sense of humour. Is it related to handedness?

OMG, I have exactly the same problem with green and orange. I know which is which but as soon as I try to say the colour, the other word comes out of my mouth.

I’m terrible with left and right I have to pretend I have a pen in my hand to tell the difference.
Learning to drive was hard. When I first started my instructor used to say either turn [my name] for right or [her name] for left!
I have never been able to learn all the times tables, random ones stick in my mind because of how they sound eg six sixes are thirty six but the others I have no clue. I can remember songs, poems and books from childhood with no issue. My brain seems to freeze and panic when I read or hear numbers.

I'm somewhere in the middle I think. I don't just know, but it doesn't take a lot of thinking about.

One area I'm not great on, despite being a person of normal intelligence is the alphabet. Like if someone said to me, which comes first in the alphabet M or T. I'd have to say the whole thing before I could tell you.

This is me and my DP! He isn’t quite so reasonable if we’re towing though 😂

I never have to think about L/R.

I do have to think about 7x8 (always reassure myself by remembering that 8x8=64). And I did a maths degree, and was the first person in the [Y3] class to get a star by my name for having recited all the times tables. 7x8 was obviously easier when it was scaffolded by 6x8 and 8x8

Yes, it’s easy if you Write with your Right.
That’s how I helped the Gdcs with it anyway.

It's not instinctive; I have to check, but I'm better at remembering which is which than I was a few years ago.

When someone says "your left or my left", though, I go to pieces. Can't do it.

I can’t instinctively. I have to think about it. I also have appalling sense of direction and frequently get lost, even in buildings I’m familiar with. It’s exhausting.

My right side is my dominant side. When I am given instructions that include left or right I always have to pause for a second but knowing that I’m right handed helps me distinguish between the two. My instinct is to turn to the right if I am unfamiliar with how to reach a location.

I'm truly shocked by the poll result! 😧

Never eat cake eat sausage sandwiches and remain young.

I’m good for left and right.
That’s not a boast because other things like vertical and horizontal absolutely pickle my brain. (I have to remember that Vertical Limit was a film about rock climbing and therefore up not across!)

Have been driving 30 years and no idea what nearside and offside means.

Driver's side, passenger side.

I have to really think about it. So does my friend. We’re both NT. I think it’s just something that’s really common

I know which is left and right but it takes me a while to figure it out, if someone says to me look left I don’t know which way to look. I say to myself I am right handed so that’s the right.
I also have trouble reading maps and direction is not great either.

However I’m not neuro diverse, I don’t have autism or adhd and I don’t have dyslexia or dyspraxia - so I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
Dh is used to it if he says it’s on the left and when I go the wrong way he just says the other left

I wouldn’t have a clue if someone said ‘my left’ as I can’t even work out my own left

Why? I struggle with left and right. But only when directing other people. I know exactly where I'm going, what lane I need to be in, how to use my indicators. Sat navs use maps with arrows, they don't talk to you (or at least mine doesn't).

There is nothing that makes those of us who struggle with left and right unsafe on the road. It's just the NAMES for the directions which confuse us, nobody is going the wrong way round roundabouts or driving on the wrong side of the road.