If so, what’s your story? Were you always ambidextrous? Did you injure your dominant hand? Are you a leftie who was forced to use their right hand? How did it affect you?
I can write, draw, eat, play sports, etc. with either hand. In my case, I’m a leftie whose entire left side was weakened at birth by a placental mishap. This injury was not obvious, and so everyone in my life including myself thought I was right-handed until I was 16. I began training my left hand when I was 17 (18 now), and handwriting is roughly equal with both at the moment.
My handwriting was always a mess. My second grade teacher, a former Army lieutenant, verbally beat the tar out of me (I also had undiagnosed ADD and a form of NLD/HFA, which were also caused by the birth mishap.). She sent me home with a full-length penmanship workbook over April break and it took up at least 75% of my vacation. I constantly got into trouble over neatness and felt terribly whenever I saw the neat handwriting of my peers. Gym class was a joke.
Psychologically, I cannnot say how it affected me because of my other unaddressed issues, which I believe had a much greater impact. However, I do think some of my nervous habits, such as clamming up whenever others watch me write, stem from this. Also, despite being forced by nature to change sides, I always did some things like a leftie and favored the left side for almost everything (for example, I usually stand towards the left, put the focal point in my drawings on the left, and when choosing from identical items, go for the one on the left).
I am not completely ambidextrous. But I am a converted rightie, having been switched from left to right when I was four years old.
I am cross dominant. My left ear and eye are dominant, while I do most things with my right hand. My left arm and hand, however, are noticeably larger and stronger than my right. I don’t seem to have a strong dominant leg/foot. The end result of all of this? I am poorly coordinated. Like you, I also have neurological diagnoses.
Apparently a number of neurological thingamabobs are linked to mixed lateralization/ambidextrousness. I was relieved when I made this discovery because I went through life blaming myself for being such a klutz–and having to listen to people lecture me about not trying hard enough.
No, I’m ambiclumsy. Should’a been a lefty, got trained as a righty; for things requiring strength or hand-eye coordination I’m a lefty, for those requiring finger dexterity I’m a righty. This explains why I can’t sew a straight line to save my life: it requires hand-eye coordination and finger dexterity…
Cross-dominant here. I can only write rightie (legibly at least; if need be I can scratch out my name leftie). I mouse leftie or rightie as needed; shoot pool with either hand as needed; curl rightie.
It’s confusing in the kitchen, as I keep switching back and forth - some things I don’t have a dominant hand. The weird one is peeling carrots and potatoes - I peel them leftie, but then cut them up rightie. I’ve tried doing it all with the left hand, or all with the right hand, and it just doesn’t work.
No neurological issues ( so far as I know ), but I’ve always been a klutz.
Lefty the nuns tried to convert back in the 60s - so I never had decent casual handwriting. I ended up doing calligraphy to improve my writing. Then I ended up with a bit of chemically induced neurological damage that trashed the coordination on my left side. I have always been a klutz because of the attempted retraining to be a righty. Oddly enough I can simultaneously write the same thing backwards with my left hand and forewards with my right, preferably on a blackboard as paper doesn’t hold still unless it is taped down to a surface
I am, although that doesn’t mean that I can do everything equally well with either side - some things I do with my right side and some I do with my left. I was probably born a lefty and was taught to do things righty. I write with my right hand, but I have broken that arm a couple of times and I was fine writing lefty, although I was slower. I played a lot of sports and threw righty but was a switch-hitter in baseball. My left leg is much stronger than my right and kicking anything is a lefty thing.
I’m goofy footed in surfing and snowboarding, but I’m not sure what that implies, other than it’s less common.
One thing I am certain of is that I am left eye dominant. I can not sight and shoot a rifle from the right side. That is a left hand thing only. I can barely close my right eye by itself for more than a couple of seconds.
Lefty here when it comes to writing.
Since my left eye is 20/200 I shoot right handed and ride a skateboard / surfboard goofy footed.
Since I started working on cars mechanical tasks are either hand. Which hand is closer to the bolt? That is the one I use.
I’m right handed. I can only write with my right hand.
I mouse with my left hand - it hurts if I use my right too much.
Back when I played volleyball, I would occasionally have problems with my right shoulder. I learned to serve left handed - a bit tricky to get the power behind it, because the weight transfer feels awkward.
Then I started coaching volleyball, and had - gasp - left handed players! I had to learn all the skills left handed so I could teach them.
Right now, my right arm is in a brace due to a freak hot tub accident. (Technically, a freak hot tub trench digging overuse injury.) So I’m doing a lot left handed again. The biggest challenge I’ve had is using chop sticks. But I’m getting better at it.
-D/a
I’m right-handed for the most part, but I count money and deal cards leftie. I have also been known to use a 10-key adding machine with my left hand and computer keypad with my right, switching back and forth, which freaked my office-mate out.
When I was in high school I wanted to be ambidextrous so I practiced writing with my left hand. I heard about the trick where you can write forward with your right hand and backwards with your left hand simultaneously so I practiced writing backwards with my right hand to enable writing forward with my left hand. It worked well and I could write left handed independently for several years but I eventually gave up the skill through disuse.
I’m a lefty who failed the conversion training. I can write right handed, but it looks way too sloppy so I write left handed. I do many other things right handed, like golf, etc.
I can do a lot with my nether hand, other than throw something. I used to dribble a basketball with either hand, although I couldn’t shoot for shit with my left. But that’s a matter of muscle memory training. I’m a two handed typist, and worked with tools most of my life, so both hands are nimble. But not ambi.
Funny, I can do the same thing but I write backwards with my right hand and forwards with my left I could always read backwards, as well as upside down. I didn’t realize that this was unusual until a few years ago-as a kid I always thought that having the answer to a puzzle in a magazine be upside down or backwards under it was a bit daft because it was “so easy to read”
This sounds counterintuitive, but I’ve always found fountain pens to be the absolute best for writing with a weak hand. I used mine to retrain my left hand, and keep a lefty and righty fountain pen (because of the way the nib wears, each pen is only used by the hand its assigned to) with which I do the majority of my writing. The nib forces you to hold the pen correctly, which is a major step in the right direction (no pun intended). Also, the wet ink forces you to hold the pen in a way that will prevent smudging. I almost never smudge the ink when I’m writing lefty, and I think that’s why.
), but I’ve always been a klutz.
I could always read backwards, as well as upside down. I didn’t realize that this was unusual until a few years ago-as a kid I always thought that having the answer to a puzzle in a magazine be upside down or backwards under it was a bit daft because it was “so easy to read” 