Left-handed workers in a right-handed world

Approximately one-in-ten people are left-handed, yet the world of work is overwhelmingly designed for right-handers. What’s more, there are also numerous examples – historical and contemporary – of discrimination and stigma in relation to left-handed people.

International Left-handers Day, on August 13, aims to counter some of these disadvantages and draw attention to the strengths of the world’s left-handed workers. Studies have found that ‘lefties’ score higher when it comes to creativity, imagination, intuition and complex reasoning. Successful lefties include the artists Michaelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Renoir; the tennis player Raphael Nadal; and four of the five original design team of the Apple computer.