Being Left-handed is Dangerous to My Health?

Do you want to know one of the reasons I home-school?  It's because I wanted my children to avoid labeling as much as possible.  God only knows how much labeling I endured (and that isn't meant as an oath, just a fact that there is only one Person who could keep track) as a child.  And it wasn't just adults that did it.  Peers were just as apt to assign invisible Post-It notes.  It's the way our society keeps track of its own:  into what mental file folders do you fit?

• She's a Christian? Check
• She's an only child? Check
• She's shy? Check
• She's left-handed? Check

All fodder for the friendship mill or conversations among teachers, and we all know how teachers talk among themselves.  Hey!  I was one!

Okay, except for the shyness thing, and sometimes the Christianity label, I really saw no reason to panic as a child  - and still don't - as an adult.  And then I read this piece in the Wall Street Journal and it is brought to my attention that I survived childhood as a left-hander (actually, I'm more likely the "mixed-brain" type ominously portrayed in the article) only to be stunned by brain dominance research in my mid-adult years.

Personally, I don't know why they bother with these type of studies.  It isn't like there's some sort of cure for left-handedness.  To me, it seems like someone is trying to assign a birth defect where none exists.  I find this insulting, and more importantly, alarming! Are they going to start doing prenatal testing for left-handedness like they do for other types of so-called disorders (which I am also against testing for, by the way)?

Oh, please!  I'm 52 years old and have lived a very nice life so far thankyouverymuch. No schizophrenia, no ADHD, or no other negative labels that they claim have been associated with my handedness.  I also have two left-handed grandchildren who seem to have avoided the ominous labeling so far (they're home-schooled).

Normally I would be making some snide tongue-in-cheek remarks about this anomaly of left-handedness but this is serious business.  If all of the recent debates over sex-selection abortions, which is another one of those "in utero" conditions over which the baby has no control, teaches us anything it is that someday in the not-too-distant future medical science will find a way to test fetal brainwaves for signs of brain dominance.  This will then be used to talk to expectant parents about conditions that their child might develop due to predominantly left-handed or mixed-brain tendencies. 

It all sounds like some horrible B-rated science fiction movie but recent genetic news suggests otherwise.  Google the words "designer babies" and I guarantee that the top results will not be for clothing store websites.

You might think I'm being facetious, but mark my words!  Someday being left-handed could be another one of those quality of life issues.