Imagine having musical instruments, school supplies, athletic equipment and even automobiles all designed to work the opposite way your hands work. Nearly everything manufactured specifically for a left-handed person has to be special ordered, is in short supply and often comes with a higher price tag. Representing 10% of the population, left-handed people have spent 365 days of every year conforming to a right hander’s world. Until 1990. Tired of struggling to use can openers and having to restring their guitars, lefties across the globe shouted “Enough!” (no doubt waving their left fists in the air) and formed the Left Handers Club. Two years later in 1992, they created International Lefthanders Day to be observed every August 13 to recognize the daily plight of the Southpaw.
In honor of its 30th anniversary this year, International Lefthanders Day is being celebrated around the world with everything from left-handed sporting events and left-handed tea parties to left-handed immersive experiences and left-handed obstacle courses at which righties are encouraged to try their (left, of course) hands.
Do you have any left-handed friends? Check out this impressive list of lefties.
Neil Armstrong – Jason Bateman – Justin Bieber – David Bowie – Carol Burnett – Jim Carrey – Charlie Chaplin – Bill Clinton – Tom Cruise – Kurt Cubain – Miley Cyrus – Robert DeNiro – Celine Dion – Eminem – Will Ferrell – Tina Fey – Morgan Freeman – Judy Garland – Bill Gates – Ruth Bader Ginsburg – Whoopi Goldberg – Dorothy Hamill – Katherine Hepburn – Jimi Hendrix – Jim Henson – LeBron James – Hugh Jackman – Steve Jobs – Angelina Jolie – Diane Keaton – Lady Gaga – Jennifer Lawrence – Spike Lee – Jay Leno – David Letterman – Adam Levine – Paul McCartney – Marilyn Monroe – Barrack Obama – Pink – Brad Pitt – Prince William – Gordon Ramsey – Robert Redford – Julia Roberts – Seth Rogan – Babe Ruth – Jerry Seinfeld – Sylvester Stallone – Mother Teresa – Mark Wahlberg – Bruce Willis – Oprah Winfrey – Mark Zuckerberg
by Michele Robert Poche