Left Handed in a Right Handed World
Tags: a11y
Published: 2022-08-20 18:09:48

About 90% of the human population are right hand dominant <sup>[[wikipedia]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness)</sup>. Being left handed in a right handed world has challenges and differences that are not obvious to someone who is right handed. Let me know in the comments about your left handed experiences.

## Daily Life

### Scissors

Very few people that I have interacted with realize that scissors are the worst thing in the world for left handed use. The reason for this is that right handed scissors are designed with the cutting blade on top and when you squeeze it naturally pushes the blades together. This provides for a sharp clean cut. When used in the left hand the cutting blade flips to the bottom and the squeezing action actually forces the blades apart. Naturally, if the blades are not flush, it will not cut. The solution for left handed use is to change hand posture and consciously torque the blades together as you cut. But obviously, this is incredibly uncomfortable and not very fun to use. If you know someone who is left handed, chances are they have a pair of left handed scissors.

### Dinner Table

You sit down for dinner with family, friends, or date. You pick up a fork and start eating, but suddenly you are bumping elbows with the person next to you. This is not unfamiliar to lefties. Because the hand you use to eat with is likely different than those around you, your elbows move in the same space and eventually will collide. This has led lefties to heading this off and looking for the ends of tables where they will have no one to collide with.

In some cultures, eating with your left hand is considered unsanitary and/or rude.

### Pens

This is a weird one. Some pens have a twist in the middle to extend the ballpoint. I have never come across a left handed version of these. What happens is that the natural torque of your left hand as you write is opposite from your right hand and using it in your left will actually close the pen as you write.

### Computers

If you pick any public computer and sit down at it, chances are the mouse is on the right side. If you are left handed, this means you have to move the mouse to the other side, which could be problematic in small spaces like keyboard trays. It also means that you probably have to flip the primary buttons in the mouse settings. I say "probably" because I lived for a long time using right handed buttons in my left hand simply because it is annoying to change constantly.

A slight advantage I have obtained is the ability to use a mouse in either hand. This has lead me to heading off RSI in my primary mouse hand. Whenever my hand starts to hurt, I just flip my mouse to the other side for a few weeks. I am not as precise in my right hand, but for most tasks it works out just fine.

### Cups/Mugs

Depending on your personal preference, you may want to stare at a logo or slogan as you drink your preferred hot beverage. When you drink with your left hand, that flips and you may or may not have your preferred side facing you. This is a small thing, but may become a slight annoyance, or hidden benefit.

## PC Gaming 

### Hardware

When playing PC games, one annoying aspect is that WASD is on the left side of a long keyboard. So when you want to game you have to slide the keyboard so far over to the right that you have to make room or it hangs off the edge of your desk. And if you have it in a keyboard tray then you just have to move it out of the tray. Additionally, if you are gaming on a laptop there is not much you can do.

Another interesting thing is that WASD controls fits your hand differently so pressing certain buttons just doesn't feel right so sometimes you have to remap the buttons. Also, I have used my palm to jump (space bar) my entire life. However, I have never understood why right handed gamers decided to put crouch and sprint (CTRL, SHIFT) under your pinkie, which is one of the most frequent movements controlled by the weakest finger. I have always felt like I have had an advantage there since I can use my thumb and index finger for those controls. But most other actions have you reaching out away from your right hand (G, F, T, V, etc) for things like interact, grenades, and melee which is more natural. As left handed, I have to use my pinkie for those which is a struggle and I mess up quite a bit.

Not to mention, all of the best hardware options are only right handed. In fact, I just ordered a left handed (ambidextrous actually) gaming mouse off of Amazon and the next day the order was canceled due to "lack of availability". Imagine not being able to use your favorite hardware simply because it was not available in your handedness. Imagine reading about a device and getting super excited only to find that you could not use it.

### User Interface

Mouse clicks in menus sometimes are hard coded to be right handed. Some of these games are high profile high revenue games like The Elder Scrolls and Rainbow Six: Siege. In games such as these, menus are hard code to right handed even if you change setting in the OS. Fixing this directly in the control mappings does not help since that only affects direct gameplay. Constantly swapping back and forth between button schemes is definitely draining and a frequent source of miss clicks.

Has anyone ever noticed that essentially every game avatar is right handed? It sure would be nice to have an option to flip that and have it be left handed, especially for FPS games. Shout out to, Link, the best left handed avatar out there! <sub>_[We do not talk about Breath of the Wild Link or the Wii](https://www.cbr.com/zelda-botw-left-handed-link/)_</sub>.

## Firearms

If you have ever shot any side ejecting rifle, you may not realize that if you used it left handed you will get hot bullet casings and gun powder to your arm unless you hold it funky (and potentially unsafe). While not usually an issue you come across very often, I bet being left handed in the military can be rough. I would imagine that not being able to pick up any fellow soldiers firearm and use it without getting burns is an issue.

## Left Footed

I am not also left footed but I am aware that there might be extra challenges for those who are. I would be interested to hear about any left footed challenges in the comments! One in particular I have always wondered is if there are any issues with the gas/brake pedals in vehicles.

<sub>* All credit and rights for the cover image belong to [HuffPost](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/12-little-known-facts-about-left-handers_n_55d39e97e4b0ab468d9ec794)</sub>