space

As a lefty in a right-handed world, my use of space is awkward, to say the least. In restaurants, I need to sit on the left of someone so I do not elbow them when I am eating. I have come accustomed to always stepping ahead of people to make sure I get the “right” spot as a lefty. I am not complaining but rather I am pointing out that us lefties tend to think ahead of time to make sure our space is used well. 

One of my biggest issues, was in school while growing up, was figuring out my space as a lefty in a right-handed desk. I started to develop back problems because I have to sit at odd angles to be able to write. Once, during my ACT test, I had to sit for 3 hours with a right-handed desk and I was very uncomfortable throughout the entire time. I did ask if I could use another desk as a way to make it more comfortable for me, but my proctor told me that the ACT had rules about the size of the desk that needed to be used. This is slight discrimination because I was at a disadvantage from my fellow test-takers who were right-handed and had an armrest in the typical desk. 

However, I decided that enough was enough. I asked my dean if there were other desks that I could use, because of my back problems. Apparently, I was the first left-handed person to ever ask for a desk that suited me better at my school. This opened my eyes to the lack of space left-handed people to get in the world of right-handedness. It is just fascinated that we are not able to utilize as much space in certain spaces just because it was built for right-handed angles. 

Space is taken advantage of because each human naturally just forms where they are put. It is only when the building of houses, apartments, shops, etc that the idea of utilizing space is taken into account. The lack of awareness of space and most of the world is right-handed shows that left-handed people are at odds from the get-go. Most of us go through life just assimilating into the circles even though we are squares. I want to change that. I want to help shape the world, so that right and left-handed people can thrive in our own space similarly. I want to change the rules about ACT testing, school desks, or having doors open from right to left rather than left to right. This will strip some of the right-handed people’s ways just a bit, but I think that we should be equal in the awkwardness of our space.