The World Commemorates The First International Left-handed Day In History Today, August 13, 1976

Illustration (Unsplash/Kelly Sikkema)

JAKARTA - Today the world celebrates International Left-handedness Day. The occasion, which is celebrated every August 13, aims to raise awareness about the problems left-handed people face in their daily lives.

Long before Left-handed Day appeared, left-handed people were often stigmatized badly. Various things that are "leaning" are perceived as deviant.

The Washington Post, for example, takes as an example the word "sinister" (spooky, evil, or threatening) comes from the Latin for "left side." While in French it is called "gauche" which means it refers to the word awkward and socially impolite.

Not only that but left-handed people are also associated with the influence of demons and witchcraft. This creates discomfort, frustration, and is sometimes is dangerous for left-handers.

Lefthanders Day was first observed by the founder of Lefthanders International, Inc., Dean R. Campbell in 1976. Left-handedness Day is celebrated on Friday the 13th (Friday the 13th, a day that is considered unlucky or cursed) and has since been observed as an annual event every Friday the 13th. Until now, left-handed people often face difficulties because many items or facilities are designed for right-handers.

Illustration (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

In 1990, The Left-Handers Club was founded with the mission of keeping members abreast of developments. The club also provides assistance to those in need and continues to conduct research on lefties and items that can be used by lefties. To this day, the club is highly regarded as a group that represents all left-handers in the world.

Continuing the tradition created by Campbell, the Left-Handers Club launched International Lefthanders Day as part of their organization on August 13, 1992. The goal is to create awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of left-handers. Some figures who are known to be left-handed are Barack Obama, Walt Disney, Bill Gates, Charlie Chaplin, and Mark Zuckerberg.

Myths of left-handed people

Quoting the journal The left brain knows what the right hand is doing, about 90 percent of people are right-handed, of which the remaining 10 percent are left-handed and 1 percent of them are ambidextrous, meaning they have no dominance at all. There are some myths between right-handed and left-handed people, but most of the evidence is anecdotal and more research needs to be done.

First, left-handed people tend to be more introverted than right-handed people. But a 2013 New Zealand study published in the journal Laterality found no personality differences between the five people tested.

"Beliefs and stereotypes that left-handed people are more introverted and open than left-handed people are not reflected in the empirical data and contradict societal beliefs", it wrote. Apparently, which hand a person uses to write or do activities does not always determine personality.

Scissors for the right hand (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

In addition, many argue that left-handed people have a working right-brain dominance. Because most right-handed people use the left hemisphere of the brain. However, a study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology found that it is not necessarily which hand people use determines cognitive performance.

People who are able to move using their right and left hands show better brain function and access the right side of the brain more, compared to people who can only use their left or right hands. But behind the myth, there is a fact that many people may not know about left-handed people.

For one thing, left-handers have the most frequent sleep problems, based on a small study in the journal Chest that monitored the rhythmic limb movements of right-handed and left-handed people while they slept. One of the reasons is because of differences in body movements of people who are right-dominant.

The researchers found that 94 percent of left-handed people had body movements that provided indicators of sleep disturbances. This compares with 69 percent of right-handed people who have a sleep disorder.

*Read other information about TODAY's HISTORY or read other interesting articles from Putri Ainur Islam.

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