13th August: International Left Handers Day

29th annual International Left Handers Day! August 13th is a chance to tell your family and friends how proud you are of being left-handed, and also raise awareness of the everyday issues that lefties face as we live in a world designed for right-handers.

Approximately 10% of the population are southpaws. Scientists don’t know why a person develops left-handedness. But it’s more likely a child will be left-handed if one parent is a lefty, too. Parents of left-handed children used to force them to use their right hands. In the eyes of right-handers, the predominant use of the left hand seemed evil. Parents feared their communities would shun their children. While we accept left-handedness more readily than days gone by, its occurrence hasn’t increased.

You know who was left-handed? U.S. Presidents Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. You know who else? Jimi Hendrix and Oprah Winfrey? Not to mention Julia Roberts and Lady Gaga. And then of course, there were the actual “southpaws” — baseball legends such as Babe Ruth and Sandy Koufax. Legend has it that Alexander the Great was a lefty, but that one’s up for debate.

International Left Handers Day was founded in 1992 in the United Kingdom. Because of the popularity of this observation in the United States, the Registrar at National Day Calendar added the day to its list of national days.