What's wrong with you?

As I jotted down a few items on my shopping list the other day, I had this flash remembrance of a narrow escape when I was 6 years old.

I am part of the first generations who were allowed to learn how to write with their left hand at primary school, instead of being forced to write with their right hand, the left one tied in their back.

Thankfully this sort of practise is no longer in our society, and I wasn’t just part of a short-lived social experiment.

I realise now that allowing people to write with their left hand at school was perhaps one of the first steps towards more diversity and inclusion at school, maybe because the difference was highly visible.

But it took a very long time to get there.

Although we now recognise the special qualities of left-handed people, and the talents that come from a slightly different wiring of their brains, being left-handed used to have a very bad press.

The negative connotations of the word ‘left’ are so ancient and deeply rooted, that it’s reflected in many languages.

In French, ‘gauche’ also means ‘clumsy’.

In Italian and Latin, ‘sinistra’ also means ‘evil’.

To this day, using your left hand is still seen as rude or unclean in many parts of the world, like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and the Middle East.

Between practical considerations (old hygiene concerns prior to modern sanitation) and religious beliefs, the left hand has long been seen as the mere opposite of the right hand, and therefore impure, unlucky and evil.

Did you know that being left-handed in Britain in the Middle Ages was often associated with witchcraft and you could end up burning at the stake?

At the core, I think it’s the deep rooted fear of the difference that led to such practices and beliefs.

It is estimated that about 10% to 12% of the world population is left-handed, so the right wins, hands down - sorry, I could not resist that one!

Fast forward a few decades and we know now a lot more about the diversity of the human brain.

The problem is that our education system and our language are still playing catch up, as more and more children are diagnosed with what we call special educational needs.

Words like ‘dyslexia’, ‘neuro-divergence’ or ‘dyspraxia’, with their prefix ‘dys/dis’ point to the ‘abnormal’, the stuff that’s off the trodden path. Deep down, language like this reflects our collective unease in front of the difference.

There is a long way to go before society recognises and embraces the many variations of our make up. And yes, I’m fully aware that this goes against the grain of norming, which groups, big or small, are formed upon.

But to the question, ‘what’s wrong with you?’, I’d like to answer that there’s nothing wrong with you.

Instead, I’d like to offer you this suggestion:

Surround yourself with the people who will love and appreciate you for who you are, rather than those who will try to coax you into something you’re not.

Because for the latter, you will always be an ugly duckling, whilst the former will see the beautiful swan that you can become.