Saturday, Aug 11, 2007
Dubai: Maya Thomas will never forget the reaction she got when, as a small child, she held out her left hand to collect some coins from her uncle for her bus fare.
It was not the first time that someone had reacted negatively to Thomas's left-handedness and it probably won't be the last time.
The 38-year-old Dubai-based Indian journalist, whose 11-year-old daughter Shruti is also left-handed, said there were many ways in which life was harder for left-handed people.
Negative attitudes
"Can openers, knives, scissors ... plenty of things like that are designed for right-handed people. They are so selfish because they are in the majority," she said.
If new research is anything to go by, there are downsides to being left-handed that might extend beyond negative attitudes and awkward household implements.
Scientists have found that left-handed people may be more likely to develop schizophrenia.
The research, which was led by a team from Oxford University, discovered that a gene called LRRTM1 that increases the chance of someone being left-handed also makes it more likely that someone will become schizophrenic.
The gene is thought to be involved in the development of asymmetry in the brain, although Dr Clyde Francks from the project said that the "vast majority" of left-handers would not go on to develop the schizophrenia, which affects about one in 100 people.
"There are many factors which make individuals more likely to develop schizophrenia," British media quoted him as saying.
Dr Raymond Hamden, a clinical and forensic psychologist from the Human Relations Institute at Dubai Knowledge Village, was similarly cautious about reading too much into the research.
"It would be wrong to say that left-handed people are prone to schizophrenia. There are no psychological disorders associated with left-handedness or right-handedness," he told Gulf News.
Even if that is the case, Jumana, a left-handed Palestinian in her 20s, said life for left-handers was still tougher than for the right-handed.
"It is not just teasing that's the problem. In the Arab world it is shameful to be left-handed. It is even considered irreligious. The left hand is considered unhealthy and unhygienic," she said. "When I was at kindergarten, if I reached for something like a spoon with my left hand, they would hit me on the hand or ban me from eating."
More creative
However, Jumana said that, for all the difficulties, she is happy to be left-handed.
"They say we are smarter and more creative," she said with a smile.
She said there were many "little things" that made life for left-handers like her more difficult. "When I write with my left hand, I smudge the ink so you need quick-drying ink if possible," she said.
Khouri often uses special left-handed pens that make it easier to write without touching the page - making it less likely that the ink will be smudged.
"Left-handed people have a habit of curving their wrist inwards when they write, but these pens let them rest their elbows straight. It's a lot easier," she said.
Their other names
- Four of the last six US Presidents - Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford - were left-handed.
- Left-handed people are sometimes nicknamed "southpaws", especially in relation to sport.
- The fact that right is a synonym for correct is said to demonstrate society's bias against left-handedness.
- Left-handed people are sometimes described as being "cack-handed", which means clumsy.
By Daniel Bardsley
Gulf News 2007. All rights reserved.
