My serious post about left-handedness
Aug. 13th, 2005 12:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
Gee, left-handedness makes a great analogy.
I mean, consider it.
Some 10% of the population. Used to be horribly oppressed, forced to hide who they were. Now, we are much more civilized now, and nobody forces lefties to change. Except that the world still isn't set up fairly. You don't think about it, you get so used to crossing over your arms, or taking off your watch to set it, or just using The Other Hand for everything, but... man, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm getting annoyed. (Oh, and side note - ambidextrous scissors? Suck. They're jointed the wrong way, so they're really just righty scissors with uncomfortable handles. Gee, thanks.)
Plus, everybody in the English-speaking world knows a lefty or is a lefty, and many of them inexplicably think left-handedness is cool. Or something.
But despite the loose pride that comes from YAY BEING LEFTY, nobody thinks we're out to recruit their young or push our agenda. Why? Because as far as anybody really cares, all the problems are settled. We can marry whomever we want, and nobody thinks they need to change lefties, even when it's associated with such dread conditions as liberalism, homosexuality, schizophrenia, and being an actor... life is good!
So, as I said, it makes a good analogy. Quick looks at google will prove this. Left-handedness can be compared to homosexuality, to disability in general, to deafness, to autism (you knew I'd get to this eventually), to blindness… I’m sure you can think of other searches to run.
And, y’know, it makes sense.
Oftentimes you hear people saying things along the lines that “well, we don’t need a cure for this just because ‘life is difficult’. I mean, life is difficult for black people in this country, statistic statistic statistic, but you wouldn’t suggest the solution is to cure blackness!”
I recently read this post in somebody’s blog, didn’t think that much of it. It talks about access, and recounts the recitation of a story about a woman who couldn’t use the bathroom because she was black. It just draws a simple comparison.
And then I find out that somebody read this whole post, and decided it was racist. She says that “The truth of the matter is that if you or Cass Irvin had been rolling along the fictional street described in the reading looking for a bathroom, as white people you would have been allowed to use one. As people in wheelchairs, you might have had difficulty reaching the bathroom or the toilet itself, but you would not have been excluded by law or custom.” I honestly haven’t the slightest idea what to say to this, but I digress.
Or, not really. When you compare anything you want to left-handedness, you have to worry that people will say you’re downplaying it – after all, not being able to use scissors without immense difficulty isn’t at all the same as, say, not being able to use the bathroom. Unless, of course, you think that an inability to get into the bathroom is a bit of a “difficulty”. Me, I assume that deliberately designing buildings that leave people out (or not providing actual lefty scissors, though I do agree this isn’t on the same level) is excluding people by custom.
So I don’t know. Maybe, to some people, there is no way to trivialize arguments over accessible bathrooms, or cures for everything under the sun, or that kid Zach being locked up by his parents – maybe to some people, anything they don’t want to think about, any time they want to ignore their complicity in something, the issue is automatically trivial.
I know I rambled a lot. I'm sorry. I wanted to say something important to mark the occasion. I don't know if I actually hit on important, but I think I at least managed sincere.
Incidentally, all my google searching scared me. In the process of writing this post, I came across things like this. I'd almost put the nonsense surrounding that article (which I rather liked, linked to, and should find to post up again) out of my mind entirely.
I mean, consider it.
Some 10% of the population. Used to be horribly oppressed, forced to hide who they were. Now, we are much more civilized now, and nobody forces lefties to change. Except that the world still isn't set up fairly. You don't think about it, you get so used to crossing over your arms, or taking off your watch to set it, or just using The Other Hand for everything, but... man, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm getting annoyed. (Oh, and side note - ambidextrous scissors? Suck. They're jointed the wrong way, so they're really just righty scissors with uncomfortable handles. Gee, thanks.)
Plus, everybody in the English-speaking world knows a lefty or is a lefty, and many of them inexplicably think left-handedness is cool. Or something.
But despite the loose pride that comes from YAY BEING LEFTY, nobody thinks we're out to recruit their young or push our agenda. Why? Because as far as anybody really cares, all the problems are settled. We can marry whomever we want, and nobody thinks they need to change lefties, even when it's associated with such dread conditions as liberalism, homosexuality, schizophrenia, and being an actor... life is good!
So, as I said, it makes a good analogy. Quick looks at google will prove this. Left-handedness can be compared to homosexuality, to disability in general, to deafness, to autism (you knew I'd get to this eventually), to blindness… I’m sure you can think of other searches to run.
And, y’know, it makes sense.
Oftentimes you hear people saying things along the lines that “well, we don’t need a cure for this just because ‘life is difficult’. I mean, life is difficult for black people in this country, statistic statistic statistic, but you wouldn’t suggest the solution is to cure blackness!”
I recently read this post in somebody’s blog, didn’t think that much of it. It talks about access, and recounts the recitation of a story about a woman who couldn’t use the bathroom because she was black. It just draws a simple comparison.
And then I find out that somebody read this whole post, and decided it was racist. She says that “The truth of the matter is that if you or Cass Irvin had been rolling along the fictional street described in the reading looking for a bathroom, as white people you would have been allowed to use one. As people in wheelchairs, you might have had difficulty reaching the bathroom or the toilet itself, but you would not have been excluded by law or custom.” I honestly haven’t the slightest idea what to say to this, but I digress.
Or, not really. When you compare anything you want to left-handedness, you have to worry that people will say you’re downplaying it – after all, not being able to use scissors without immense difficulty isn’t at all the same as, say, not being able to use the bathroom. Unless, of course, you think that an inability to get into the bathroom is a bit of a “difficulty”. Me, I assume that deliberately designing buildings that leave people out (or not providing actual lefty scissors, though I do agree this isn’t on the same level) is excluding people by custom.
So I don’t know. Maybe, to some people, there is no way to trivialize arguments over accessible bathrooms, or cures for everything under the sun, or that kid Zach being locked up by his parents – maybe to some people, anything they don’t want to think about, any time they want to ignore their complicity in something, the issue is automatically trivial.
I know I rambled a lot. I'm sorry. I wanted to say something important to mark the occasion. I don't know if I actually hit on important, but I think I at least managed sincere.
Incidentally, all my google searching scared me. In the process of writing this post, I came across things like this. I'd almost put the nonsense surrounding that article (which I rather liked, linked to, and should find to post up again) out of my mind entirely.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-08-13 05:09 pm (UTC)For instance, how do you make public toilets which accomodate both: transgender individuals with ambiguous appearances who are likely to receive abuse in either entirely male or entirely female environments, and female rape victims with PTSD who is uncomfortable around men? There are ways around it, certainly, but it pts up the cost. Every single special-need that you cater to pushes up the cost, and ultimately, it just isn't possible to cater to everyone.
Now, that's not to say that I don't think there are some horribly inconsiderate and inappropriate designs that don't even try to be accomodating, because there are. But ultimately, I've grown to accept that absolute equality of access just isn't possible.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-13 05:15 pm (UTC)As for the two issues you mentioned before... I am a bit curious as to how you could get to a co-ed bathroom (my prefered set-up, after "every toilet in its own room", which is a bit pricy) without passing by a bunch of men. Though I can accept that your PTSD might affect you more in some environments than others. Your = ones.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-13 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-13 08:17 pm (UTC)Im left handed, and the only real problem I have is that my writing gets smudged and I can't write right from the edge of a piece of paper if it's in a ring binder or something. Other than that, I can't remember any times in which it's been an issue. Im told it's harder to teach me to do things like Knitting, but that could just be because Im useless at knitting, and nothing to do with what hand I use.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 02:54 am (UTC)My point, though, was not that being a lefty is fraught with difficulties, but that people use it as a reference for all sorts of things. It's very easy to make people imagine a world in which they always have to switch hands to do something, or always have to cross over their chest, and to show that your problems aren't because you are disabled, but because of the disabling attitudes of society. Once you've done that, you can do the same for a much more troublesome problem - being in a wheelchair, for example. In this world, that doesn't have to mean you can't go anywhere, but it often *does* mean that.
And likewise with prejudice. It's not that long ago that people who were left-handed were routinely forced to change, something which did cause lasting harm, and it's only a little longer that being left-handed was considered against God's plan. We can make the point that we view that as outdated, and then extend the theory to other differences.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 02:55 am (UTC)But guide dogs. People don't get a service animal of any sort unless they need it.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 07:10 am (UTC)or that right-handed people have difficulty translating things in their head to operate the other way around. shouldn't be any real difference in how you knit - once you realise that you're simply creating the garment with the tools rotated 180 degrees. [effectively with the pattern being constructed in the opposite orientation, l->r v r->l or whatever.]
my handwriting was considered so spectacularly bad in primary school that one school tried me out on writing left-handed. with very ordinary results. [quite apart from aspie discoordination, i'm polydextrous - better at some things with my 'off' hand than my right one.]
no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 07:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-20 03:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-13 05:09 pm (UTC)For instance, how do you make public toilets which accomodate both: transgender individuals with ambiguous appearances who are likely to receive abuse in either entirely male or entirely female environments, and female rape victims with PTSD who is uncomfortable around men? There are ways around it, certainly, but it pts up the cost. Every single special-need that you cater to pushes up the cost, and ultimately, it just isn't possible to cater to everyone.
Now, that's not to say that I don't think there are some horribly inconsiderate and inappropriate designs that don't even try to be accomodating, because there are. But ultimately, I've grown to accept that absolute equality of access just isn't possible.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-13 05:15 pm (UTC)As for the two issues you mentioned before... I am a bit curious as to how you could get to a co-ed bathroom (my prefered set-up, after "every toilet in its own room", which is a bit pricy) without passing by a bunch of men. Though I can accept that your PTSD might affect you more in some environments than others. Your = ones.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-13 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-13 08:17 pm (UTC)Im left handed, and the only real problem I have is that my writing gets smudged and I can't write right from the edge of a piece of paper if it's in a ring binder or something. Other than that, I can't remember any times in which it's been an issue. Im told it's harder to teach me to do things like Knitting, but that could just be because Im useless at knitting, and nothing to do with what hand I use.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 02:54 am (UTC)My point, though, was not that being a lefty is fraught with difficulties, but that people use it as a reference for all sorts of things. It's very easy to make people imagine a world in which they always have to switch hands to do something, or always have to cross over their chest, and to show that your problems aren't because you are disabled, but because of the disabling attitudes of society. Once you've done that, you can do the same for a much more troublesome problem - being in a wheelchair, for example. In this world, that doesn't have to mean you can't go anywhere, but it often *does* mean that.
And likewise with prejudice. It's not that long ago that people who were left-handed were routinely forced to change, something which did cause lasting harm, and it's only a little longer that being left-handed was considered against God's plan. We can make the point that we view that as outdated, and then extend the theory to other differences.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 02:55 am (UTC)But guide dogs. People don't get a service animal of any sort unless they need it.
no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 07:10 am (UTC)or that right-handed people have difficulty translating things in their head to operate the other way around. shouldn't be any real difference in how you knit - once you realise that you're simply creating the garment with the tools rotated 180 degrees. [effectively with the pattern being constructed in the opposite orientation, l->r v r->l or whatever.]
my handwriting was considered so spectacularly bad in primary school that one school tried me out on writing left-handed. with very ordinary results. [quite apart from aspie discoordination, i'm polydextrous - better at some things with my 'off' hand than my right one.]
no subject
Date: 2005-08-14 07:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-18 01:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-20 03:42 am (UTC)