I’ve always loved making mental notes of the random things in daily life that are built or made for right-handed people. And now, since my right hand has been temporarily handicapped by my freaky accident, it’s more apparent than ever that this world is just not built for left-handed people.

*Generally, I hate the word “normal,” and this has been a difficult post to write from that perspective. I found myself struggling with the words “correct,” “proper,” and “backwards,” even though they are in here. There’s nothing wrong with doing things the left-handed way. It’s just the natural way for a lot of us. Even still, many things in this world just weren’t designed with us in mind.


Things Built or Made for Right-Handed People:

*The MetroCard Turnstile. For those who are not in NYC: To enter the subway, you have to swipe your card on the right side of a turnstile to pass through. I’ve learned to do this with my right hand. (Which is pretty annoying right now because of my gimp right.)

*ATM Machines. Luckily, the buttons are usually in the middle, but the card insert is always on the right. I’ve learned to do this with my right hand.

*Cameras. This one is particularly inconvenient to me, especially when sightseeing. I love the little wrist leash, but I wear it on my left. And if I want to take a quick picture, I have to use my right hand to push the shutter. It’s not the one-handed operation I wish it was.

*Serrated Knives. I’ve had to explain this one to some people, but I’ll trust you understand or will figure it out. This one I just have to use backwards, which pretty much defeats the purpose of the serration. This might be one I’d consider buying lefty versions of for myself.

*Playing Cards. This one took a lot of practice. I wanted to fan a hand of cards right-to-left. Doesn’t work that way. Some shops make left-handed cards, but unless you’re playing with only other leftys —or are bitter about your own left-handedness and want to stick it to your right-handed friends—they’re worthless. At this point, I think I’d have an awkward time using left-handed playing cards. I play like a righty.

*Can Openers. I don’t open enough cans to justify buying a mechanical opener, so I continue to struggle with a manual one. This one I just use awkwardly with my left. My right hand isn’t strong or controlled enough to use it correctly.

*Scissors. One thing I loved about kindergarten were the green-handled left-handed scissors. Not only were they good for me to use, but the right-handed scissors didn’t have that comfortable extra padding that the green ones did. Now, I use my left hand with regular scissors, but I could probably get good use out of a nice left-handed pair.

*Computer Keyboards. There are some good keys on the left side, but most of the special keys are on the right side of the board: Enter, Home/End/Delete, Backspace, Page Up/Page Down, arrows, number pad. I use them with my right, but not nearly as deftly as I could if they were on the left.

*Asymmetrical Computer Mice. You can adjust Windows to allow for left-handed mouse use. Excellent. I learned to mouse with my right hand, so that’s what I do. But even if I wanted to mouse with my left, the mouse itself is often built with a curve to it that wouldn’t be comfortable to use with the left hand. To Macs’ credit (as I recall), a standard mouse, with its single button, is built symmetrically, which is perfect for left- and right-handed use.

*Vending Machines. This one only occurred to me recently. I’ve learned to use my right hand to put change into the machine. So when I tried to get a Coke the other day, I actually dropped my change on the ground because I couldn’t handle it with my right hand as it is today. Along these same lines, most coin-operated machines have the slots on the right, like washing machines.

There are stores online that sell left-handed versions of some of the products I’ve mentioned (see links below). But you do have to shop a specialty store to find them, and, I don’t know about you, but at this point it might be harder to teach myself to do it the left-handed way in many cases, like the playing cards.


Other Things I Had to Unlearn Because My Natural Way Was “Backwards”:

*Crossing Myself at Church. This one took a long time to catch on to because no one ever corrected me. I was probably 10 or so before I realized I’d always been doing it opposite from everyone else. I taught myself to do it the way it’s supposed to be done. [I don’t go to church anymore.]

*Shaking Hands. I also unlearned this one when I was little, but it was more natural to me to offer my left hand to shake someone else’s.


I’m not really whining or complaining about these things. This is just how modern life is. And these are oddities I find interesting.

But if you are a product designer of some kind, try to make symmetrical products that work for everyone. :)

Leftys, What Have I Forgotten?
*Musical instruments?
*Other kitchen items?
*Sports equipment? (I’ve learned to play golf right-handed.)
*Notebooks? (All through my school days, I’d have pencil or pen smudge on my left pinky finger.)

Leave a comment!

*Wikipedia: Left-handed
*left-handed.com
*Anything Left Handed

And now I’m going to take a break. All this typing with my bum finger has become annoying. But I had fun writing this, so it was worth it.