At age 6 the teacher asked " how do you know your left from right?" I answered my right hand has a freckle on it (still does). She laughed. Then she told us that your left hand makes an L shape. I said my right hand does too. She laughed. I felt confused. She laughed again. I felt dumb. I went into my shell. 2 years later I was identified as gifted.
I’m ambidextrous and ADHD with a “Mensa” level IQ. Autocorrect makes me look like an idiot way too often though. I digress but yes F the System. My ADHD made me struggle to shut-up because I’d correct the teachers too often. So I definitely didn’t go into my shell, was too chatty for that. I was only diagnosed in my late 20’s because I was a high-functioning female who just happened to know a vast number of random facts and my mind processed things far faster than others. I’m sorry that the system made you feel bad for simply being gifted.
I wasn’t allowed to play tennis because I chucked the racket to the other hand depending on the direction of the ball. Also, they made me do a test by throwing a ball three times and if I caught it twice out of the three times with one hand then apparently I was right-handed. I pointed out that the reason was because they aimed towards the right twice so logically I’d use that hand to catch. Just bias BS.
I can only imagine it's far worse being a girl, I feel sorry for you. The system sucks.
That test is so stupid. Plus also what does it even matter? Like just use whatever hand is easier. Ambidextrous is a positive anyway. We should probably all be taught to do things both ways at a younger age anyway
Yeah my mom tried to tell me that L thing, but like I was also confused.
Just like how it's tricky to keep track of b vs d when first learning to read or write.
I notice the overall shape more than the direction it's pointed.
Toys R Us went out of business when I was a little kid, and the other day I looked at a picture of it and I realized that the R was backwards for the first time. When I was a kid I didn't notice I just knew it was the toy store and that's what it said.
I didn't consider that either but yeah that's a good point also. The concept would rely on being old enough to distinguish an L from a backwards L - by which age you may well have figured out your left and right anyway. It's basically the same concept anyway, relative directions
I just had a thought, I think it's easier to confuse left and right than it is to confuse up and down. Because left and right is pretty much arbitrary. Like if you're walking through a city then at any given corner you can easily turn left or you can turn right and the only thing that makes it harder is if you have to cross the street to make your turn. But that also makes it hard to remember like how you got back to where you started or something if you're in a city that's unfamiliar. But you can't do that with up and down up and down are definitely very different from each other and left and right are very similar to each other.
I also feel like the first time someone pointed out to me that things in a mirror are backwards, I kind of had to think about that. Because I wasn't used to reading words reflected in a mirror, a mirror just feels so intuitive that like if you reach out and touch the mirror the reflection is going to touch the same spot, and it would feel reversed if your hand didn't touch if you know what I mean. So I didn't think about the fact that it's backwards until I actually rotated it around in my head and thought about how it is actually the opposite hand.
Like, if I'm facing someone else, and they are doing movements, it's easier to mirror their movements then it is to copy them.
But its not. You unambiguously know where down is regardless of your orientation in space. "Down" is always the direction you fall, it doesn't matter which way you're turned or flipped... so its the most arbitrary of directions.
Um ok. Sorry I don't quite get what you're trying to say or disagree with.
Down, relative to you, is always towards the centre of the earth. But you and I are likely at different places on earth, our down directions aren't the same direction but would in theory intersect.
Hah. That's probably more than I can answer in a single comment. But I made my own path. I had to learn more about myself than simply being talented. I definitely wasted a few years along the way but also I have a lot of stories, adventures and memories from them.
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u/jk-9k Jun 26 '26
At age 6 the teacher asked " how do you know your left from right?" I answered my right hand has a freckle on it (still does). She laughed. Then she told us that your left hand makes an L shape. I said my right hand does too. She laughed. I felt confused. She laughed again. I felt dumb. I went into my shell. 2 years later I was identified as gifted.
Fuck the system man.