It has often been suggested that left handed people are more creative and artistic and a new study aims to establish, among other things, whether left-handers are proportionally more common (i.e. more than 1 in 10 people)  in professions and leisure pursuits which call for a high degree of creativity or artistic flair.  The Left-Handers Life Choices Survey will be launched on Left-Handers Day, 13th August 2007 and will be the most widespread survey of left-handers’ careers and interests ever produced.

Through an internet survey form, at www.lefthandersday.com left-handers and their families, friends and colleagues are encouraged to record the proportion of left handed people in any group, class, club or workplace they belong to, and their views on whether left-handedness provides any obvious advantages or disadvantages in that group.

From their responses, The Left-Handers Club aim to compile an accurate picture of how hand preference, or more specifically right-brain dominance, can affect choices in career, sporting and leisure pursuits, and whether left-handers really do gravitate towards certain life choices over others, as has often been suggested.

A preliminary study undertaken amongst the Club’s 50,000 members, has produced some interesting results.  For example, a higher proportion of left-handers engaged in music, drama or art related interests.  The same trend appears among architects, possibly due to their ability to think in 3-dimensional images.

Right hand bias may also influence a left hander’s choice of career.  It is thought that few surgeons are left-handed, possibly because medical students who are left-handed tend to specialize in other areas, as the surgical tools and layout of the operating theatre are not comfortable or safe for left-handers to use.

Participants can visit the Club website www.lefthandersday.com from now until the end of February 2008 and complete the simple survey form noting any social, work or study groups they belong to and the numbers of left and right-handers within each one. Club Organizer Lauren Milsom explains   “We want to record the proportion of left-handers in as many different groups of people as possible to expose the niches where left-handers excel or struggle both in childhood and throughout their adult life.  As well as highlighting areas of excellence, it may expose inadequate provision, training or equipment for left-handers in certain interests, which ultimately places limitations on their choices.   We can then encourage more specific research into those target areas”.  

Left-Handers Day is an annual event when left-handers celebrate the advantages their sinistrality brings. Free posters are available for download from the Left-Handers Day website, to create your own “Lefty Zone” at home, club or work – where everyone has to be left-handed for all their daily tasks! 

The Life Choices Survey form and preliminary results can be found at www.left-handersday.com where visitors will also find a host of information, games and quizzes about many aspects of left-handedness, proving there is much more to being left handed than just the way you write!

• High res. images and logo for publication can be downloaded from:
  www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk/media.html
• Left-Handers Day is sponsored by Anything Left-Handed www.anythingleft-handed.co.uk which is the leading supplier of left-handed products in the U.K. and Europe. This award-winning website is also a huge source of advice and information on all topics relating to left-handedness.

• The Left-Handers Club is run by Lauren and Keith Milsom, who have been Directors of Anything Left-Handed, for over 20 years.  They are both left-handed, as are all their staff.