What is the purpose of Left-handers International?

There are millions of left-handed people in the world, 25 million in the United States. A number of them got together in 1975 to form an association called Left-handers International. The purpose of the organization is to fight discrimination, particularly in jobs and to inform the public. The members want everybody to understand that left-handers are neither strange nor sick nor dangerous. Many studies have been made recently about hand preference in humans. They have brought interesting results. It’ s been found, for instance, that many more men than women are left-handed, that all children use both hands about equally until they are 3 years old and that hand preference is not clearly marked until age 6. Above that age, most people not only favor one particular hand but they also have a favorite eye, a favorite ear and foot. We know that the left side of the body is controlled by the right side of the brain. It seems that this particular half is the seat of emotions, imagination and of the sense of space. And indeed, lefties seem to be more creative than their right-handed fellow humans. They also seem to be more athletic and to do better in some professions, which like sports, require a good sense of space. In a large school of architecture, it was found in 1977 that 29% of the professors and 23% of the graduating students were left-handed while lefties represent less than 10% of the general population. Finally, left-handers may be more stubborn than right-handers and they’ re more likely to suffer from problems such as difficulty in reading and inability to speak normally. The problems are more serious in left-handed people who have been forced to favor their right hand. Doctors insist that one should never try to change a child’ s hand preference.