The Outcome Of Society’s Influence On Persons Who Are Forced To Switch Their Left Handedness

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the outcome of society’s influence on natural left handers who are forced to switch to use their right hand in performing activities by exploring these three objectives; to identify the various methods teachers use to force left-handed children to use their right hand; to identify challenges left-handed children encounter in schools in Ghana; and finally to assess the effects of switching from a left-handed to a right-handed person on the life of the person. The study adopted the mixed-methods approach to answer the objectives of the study. Persons who were born natural left handers but forced to switch to use their right hand were purposively sampled and in-depth interviews were conducted to collect extensive data from them. Questionnaires were also distributed to collect data from teachers. The findings further identified the methods teachers in the selected school use to enforce this switch, which include; punishing, caning and verbally abusing natural left-handers. The discomfort of sharing dual desks by a natural lefthander and a right-hander was identified as one of the challenges left-handers encounter in schools. Additionally, the findings revealed that forcefully making natural lefthanders to switch to become right-handed has effects on victims. Some of the identified effects on persons include poor handwriting; nail biting, anger, frustration, poor concentration in class, and timidity. In solving and reducing the prevalence of the phenomenon and its effects, this study recommends that education policies must include training and providing teachers with methods to make the classroom inclusive and conducive for all students including minority groups such as left-handed children; government must do more to supervise schools to implement existing policies that ensure safer classrooms for minority groups; guidance and counselling professionals must be deployed to primary and Junior High Schools to listen and provide support for left handed children who encounter verbal and physical abuse to switch their hand dominance. In addition, there must be increased education of the public including parents on the importance of allowing persons born left handed to use their more dominant hand to perform activities.