After Tyler Turner shattered his right wrist in a car accident two years ago, he had to completely relearn how to perform everyday functions using only his left hand.
"I used my left hand for about a year and a half while I waited for my right hand to heal," said Turner, graduate math student.
During that time, Turner said, he became aware of the difficulties that left-handed people face everyday, including having to use keyboards, notebooks and cameras that are specifically made for right-handed people.
"Scissors are the worst," he said. "They are made for right-handers, so, when you try to cut something, the paper just gets stuck in between the blades. It just doesn't work.
Scientific surveys and research estimate that roughly 10 to 13 percent of the world's population is left-handed.
Charles Buckner, graduate student in the University College, recently researched left-handedness for a class project and described the trait as "a sub-culture that defines itself."
"At one time, being left-handed was socially shunned," Buckner said. "When I was growing up, a lot of parents forced their left-handed kids to practice using their right hand. They would take a child's rattle out of their left hand and put it in their right one."
Buckner, who is himself left-handed, said being so never really affected him.
"I guess I'm just so used to doing things the other way," he said. For years, researchers have debated the many myths surrounding left-handedness.
A 1980 study by two American psychologists, Halpern and Cohen, suggested that left-handed persons have an average life expectancy of 66 years, nine years less than that of a right-handed person.
The data was based on surveys distributed to the next-of-kin of recently deceased individuals.
Shariee Jones, senior journalism major, said being left-handed was difficult to adjust to when she was younger, but she has gotten used to it over the years.
"I like being left-handed," Jones said. "I feel more like an individual. They say left-handed people are more creative."
Left-handed people are, in fact, rumored to be more creative.
Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Pablo Picasso were all left-handed.
Although being left-handed is considered by many to be a unique trait, there are several negative myths associated with it.
Some scientists have suggested that left-handers are more prone to certain learning disorders, such as dyslexia.
Buckner, however, said he found many misrepresentations of left-handed learning traits in his research.
"I found that left-handed people are over-represented on both sides of the learning scale," Buckner said. "Some are geniuses, but there are also some with learning disabilities."
Another popular myth suggests that wedding rings are worn on the third finger of the left hand because the Greeks and Romans believed that wearing them there would fend off evil associated with the left hand.
Although left-handedness was, at one time, not accepted in many parts of the world, it seems that society has changed its opinion and is becoming more sympathetic to left-handedness, according to Buckner. Certain products, such as wallets, scissors and notebooks, are now being specially made for left-handed individuals.
"People are, usually, sympathetic to left-handedness," Buckner said. "But, these items are still considered a luxury."
