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…how left handers brave daily discrimination in a ‘right’ world
By Barakat Alabi and Ayomide Ajumobi
“Don’t touch my things with your left hand, I hate it!”
“I will never allow my child to use the left hand.” These are some of the many unpleasant expressions left handers endure in Africa.
For many of them born left-handed, these are not unfamiliar statements. From childhood classrooms to family dining tables, left-handers are constantly reminded that they are different and often, that their difference is unwelcome.
Barakat Alabi is an undergraduate who had coped with discrimination for being a left hander.
“My earliest memories of discrimination came in primary school. Each time I picked a pencil with my left hand, my teacher would bark at me to switch. Once, she flogged me with a ruler, warning that ‘only stubborn children use the left hand.’ At just seven years old, I could not understand why something so natural felt like a crime,” she recalled.
Continuing, she said, “Growing up in Africa, cultural beliefs cast the left hand as ‘unclean’ or ‘disrespectful.’ Using it to greet elders, receive money, or pass a book was seen as an insult. Many of us were forced into awkward compromises. Some tied at the wrist, others constantly corrected until shame set in.”
Relaying further, she said, “By secondary school, I had been paired with right-handed classmates in handwriting drills, told to shut up when I explained my case.
“The stigma left scars: self-consciousness, low confidence, and a nagging sense that something about me was wrong.”
But the challenges extended beyond culture. Everyday life itself seemed designed against left handers.
Alabi said, “Lecture-hall desks slanted to the right, scissors molded for right-handed fingers, and exam halls where writing meant bending uncomfortably.”
While 90% of the world enjoys right-handed convenience, the 10% who are left-handed are forced to adapt.
Everyday household equipment and implements are unconsciously crafted for the right hand. Things as common as the door handles, water closet handles, a pair of scissors, etc. are crafted for the right hand giving left handed people little or no chances.
The sad addition to this trauma is the discrimination and forceful conversion.
This, in turn, has made many left-handers naturally ambidextrous, sharpening flexibility in ways science continues to uncover.
Research shows handedness is influenced by genetics and brain dominance. For most right-handers, the left hemisphere of the brain controls both language and movement. But for left-handers, brain functions are more mixed, requiring constant “cross-talk” between hemispheres. Scientists suggest this may enhance creativity, problem-solving, and adaptability.
Perhaps that explains why left-handers are disproportionately represented among great leaders, artists, and innovators including people like Barack Obama, former US President, Bill Gates, Billionaire philanthropist and one time richest man on the planet,
Oprah Winfrey one of the richest women on earth, Lionel Messi, multiple Balon D’or winner and Argentine World Cup star, Leonardo da Vinci, one of the greatest artists the world ever produced, Funke Akindele, Nigerian movie super star, Babatunde Fashola, former governor of Lagos State and outstanding federal minister, Namadi Sambo, Nigeria’s former Vice President and Adams Oshiomhole, former Labour Leader in Nigeria to name a few.
Yet, myths persist. For centuries, the Latin word sinister (meaning “left”) carried a negative connotation.
In African folklore, left-handedness was associated with witchcraft. Some clerics even branded it “satanic.” These harmful ideas still echo in whispers today, though science has long debunked them.
International Left-Handers Day, celebrated every 13th August since 1992, exists to challenge such prejudice. It is a reminder that being left-handed is not a curse but a gift, one that shapes how people interact with the world. Around the globe, awareness campaigns and “lefty zones” allow right-handers to experience firsthand the inconveniences we navigate daily.
Parents of left-handed children must especially resist the urge to correct what is not broken. As one mother put it, “They act differently. They say funny jokes you won’t even believe exist. They shouldn’t be criticised for being themselves.” Another father said, “Left-handers are brilliant children. They see things from perspectives you would never imagine.”
Left handers should no longer apologise for using their left hand. It is part of their uniqueness, not a defect.
What they need is a society that stops forcing left-handers into right-handed molds and begins to embrace diversity in the simplest things — even in the hand they choose to write with. After all, history has proven it: left-handedness is not a weakness, but a different strength.
Barakat Alabi and Ayomide Ajumobi are Mass Communication students at the Lagos State University of Science and Technology, Ikorodu. Both left handers are currently on internship at the Media Career Development Network, Lagos.
