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There are a few men in my family - grandfather,
uncles, who are left-handed. Maybe it is a genetic thing. I don't feel that
intellectually they are disadvantaged. It's not a disability, but it 'has' been
treated as a disability/problem in the past. Left handed children were often
labelled clumsy, slow or even stupid, when they may be highly intelligent but
lagging behind right-handers because of simple things like trying to cope with
utensils designed for right-handers and they have different brain
organization resulting in different modes of perception. Only 8 - 20 percent of
the population are left-handed. My little boy is quite a character so I feel
that it suits him to be a left-hander. Once when someone said to him, 'Hello,
how are you? He replied "I'm a left-hander". When my eldest right-hander son was
in pre-primary 6 years ago, he's teacher believed all children should be
forcibly encouraged to be right-handers. I was young and naive and didn't give
her opinion much thought. Now I'm horrified that she wasn't able to recognise
children for the gorgeous little individuals that they are.
Lorraine Sharpe
'Goldfields Birthplace'
Kalgoorlie WA
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