They need special scissors and special desks. They stand on the opposite side of home plate. They smear every word they write.
Welcome to the life of a left-handed person.
Although theirs may seem like a minor ailment, left-handed people suffer from subtle forms of right-handed oppression every day.
For instance, the typical University desk discriminates against one out of 10 people - those who are inclined to reach for their pencil with their left hand. About 10 percent of Americans are left-handed.
"I get excited in my English class because there are four left-handed desks out of 20," first-year College student Erin Tabolt said. "Most of my classes don't have many at all, especially the lecture ones."
The lack of desks becomes even more of a problem when right-handed people, oblivious to the challenges faced by their left-handed counterparts, sit in them.
"It's so funny," Tabolt said. "They don't know what's wrong with the desk, and I'm thinking, 'I could use that!'"
Left-handed scissors is another issue that arises, even at the University level.
"I used to use scissors with my right hand," Tabolt said. "But I got left-handed scissors when I left for college. My dad ordered them for me."
While the left-handed contingency is generally an overlooked minority whose concerns are ignored, one apartment at the University places special importance on left-handed needs.
Second-year College students Caroline Brown, Themba Carr, Karen Partlow and Provi Spina share an apartment with a unique situation: They are all left-handed.
"I always tell people that I think it's really cool that all of us are left-handed," Brown said.
Nothing about the apartment offers a clue to this unique quality of the people who live there. The four said they have not changed anything about their apartment to make it more convenient for left-handed people.
"We've been forced to adapt to a right-handed world," Carr said.
"It doesn't even faze us," Brown agreed.
Handwriting, however, is one aspect of being left-handed that the four have not been able to adapt to.
They pointed out that left-handed writers smear everything they've just written as they continue across the page.
"Your hand is permanently dirty," Spina said.
Carr complained that binders are set up for right-handed people, with the front of each page of paper on the right of the rings. This causes the rings to get in the way of a left-handed writer's wrist.
"In my psycho-bio class I only write on the reverse side of the paper," Carr said. "It still smears, but I don't have to worry about the spirals."
Like Tabolt, the apartment mates find the lack of left-handed desks to be a problem.
"It mystifies me when right-handed people sit in those desks," Spina said. "They can't use them."
Spina also pointed out that left-handed desks are not usually in prime locations.
"It's always on the end, and people have to climb over you," she said.
Partlow, however, has found a way to adapt.
"If I have a choice between sitting in a left-handed desk and one in the middle of the row, I choose the right-handed desk and use the desk from the chair to my left," she said.
Like having to use right-handed desks, left-handed people have to adapt in other ways, sometimes even to the extent of using their right hands.
"I learned how to play guitar right-handed because I was told that if I wanted to buy a left-handed guitar it would be more expensive," Partlow said.
Carr pointed out that a computer mouse also is geared toward right-handed people.
"If you move it around to the other side of the keyboard then you have to use your ring finger to click," she said.
Sports also pose an occasional problem.
"I play tennis right-handed because my instructor is right-handed and he didn't know how to teach left-handed," Brown said.
Carr said that when she learned to write in cursive, her teacher would not let her slant her paper in the opposite direction from the right-handed kids.
"I found an article about left-handed people in the newspaper and I showed it to her," Carr said. "After that she left me alone."
While left-handedness can be viewed as a disadvantage, many see it as a sign of creativity. Tabolt pointed out that celebrities such as Morgan Freeman, Paul McCartney and Leonardo da Vinci were left-handed.
But creativity is not the only advantage to being left-handed.
Eating also is more convenient for left-handed people, since they do not have to switch hands between cutting their food and putting it in their mouths.
Seating arrangements at the table still pose a problem, however.
"I hate it when I'm eating, and I elbow people," Carr said.
Spina complained that her family makes her sit next to the wall when they eat in restaurant booths.
"Me and my dad are both left-handed, so we'll always sit next to each other," Brown said. "We have a round table at home because my dad didn't want us to have any problems."
Tabolt and the left-handed housemates said they feel an intrinsic connection with other left-handed people.
"It's an automatic bond," Spina said.
Tabolt added that most of her best friends are left-handed, a characteristic that has become a part of their self-identity as well.
"People notice. I've had people say 'Wow, you're left-handed?'" Brown said. "Then they say 'Oh, that's cool.'"
Carr particularly noticed the difference when she began a class in American Sign Language at the beginning of last semester.
"It was confusing because you're supposed to sign with your dominant hand and there were only two people in my class who are left-handed," she said.
In the end, the four agree that being left-handed doesn't seem to set them apart from other University students on a day-to-day basis, or at least when they're not sitting at desks.
Read More
Baseball is for everyone
By Xander Tilock | 6 hours agoGo corral some friends, make your way to a ballpark and experience America's pastime, just as millions do every year.
Carter Mountain Orchard is the apple of customers’ eyes
By Charley Thomas | June 5, 2024Serving up sunsets, music and more apple delicacies than one could ever wish for, Carter Mountain Orchard deserves a spot on every University student's bucket list.
How recent graduates connected with nature through hiking
By Carly Stender | May 27, 2024Van Heyningen encouraged students returning to Grounds this fall to take advantage of all the hikes Charlottesville and its surrounding areas have to offer.
