Is There a Link Between AS and Handedness?

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Don't know if this helps any, because I didn't differentiate between those with a diagnosis and those without one: Your ASD and handedness?

Learning disorders for us leftys? Revealed in scientific studies?

Oh look majority of society is right-handed, and almost everything is meant to be done right handed. Stress in having to adjust writing styles can cause sloppiness, which under some scales poor handwriting = learning disability. And oh look, poor handwriting can contribute towards already underlying learning issues and just make things worse. Its the curse of living in a society where everything is designed for right-handed sheep. Oftentimes anymore I think that some scientists have just as little sense as some ordinarily (stupid) people due to this and some other things that have been getting to me within the scientific community.

Right-handed, diagnosed with Asperger's.

Editing my first response:

I don't want to just say that can't be right out of hand. I would be unsurprised that handedness causes more difficulties beyond learning disabilities - I'm left-handed too, and I had my share of difficulties. I think trying to adapt to it is why I am semi-mixed, in that I can do a lot of things with my right hand, just out of self-defense.

The research I quoted really should be validated on a larger scale.

Its why I posted what I did. I find scientists tend to view it from a perspective that leaves out way too much. I myself find no link between the two. Well I really should be saying Correlation =/= causation, but a lot of science articles ive been reading nowadays + the stupidity that results when the masses are being dumb like usual and misinterpreting things has gotten to me. IE: I really need to stop reading stupid-ass comments at the bottom of not just science news but regular news articles. (and yes being round too much stupidity, even virtual has triggered meltdowns for me due to the simple frustration of realizing that I am surrounded by nothing but stupid. In fact its why I got fired from my job a few weeks back.).

But yeah other problems with being left handed? Lets see... from own experience....

1)I cannot for the life of me learn to drive stick. Unless I was in England...
2)Its near impossible for me to use knifes because holding one with the 'wrong' hand actually drastically changes how the pressure gets applied to the blade itself.
3)I refuse to touch power tools because all the guards are on the side for righties by default. Why do we have to put extra work into just switching the guards around, or extra money because of the fact that some guards are either built in or molded to a specific side.
4)This one is a bit of a weird issue but nonetheless an issue for me. If gotten into quite a few arguments and or brawls because I have a tendency to walk on the left side and work against the flow. I cant f*****g help the fact that I naturally drift over to the left when walking, plus it is easier for me to open the left door which causes its own problems.

Im just sick in general of how it is that WE have to change, not the so called "normals"

I have two left hands. Well, sort of. My right hand is definitely more useful, nonetheless.

Well, the poll supports Fnord's standpoint on the difference between DXd and non-DXd. Left handed / right handed ratio is about 1:2 for DXd, whereas it's less than 1:3 for non-DXd, apart from ambidextrous.

I had never really thought that people could be truly ambidexterious until I talked to my daughter's fiance about it. He is. He believes it is because he was naturally left handed and in school they made him write with his right hand. I have never noticed what hand he uses to write with, and we were talking about left handed people the other day and that's when I found this out. So I noticed him more often.

He will write a note with either hand, depending on his position and the location of the paper.
He does things that take time to write, right handed.
He plays guitar right handed
He plays baseball left handed

I can't do much at all with my left hand except type on the keys on that side of the keyboard.

Frances

Fnord, I'm right handed and I don't have an official paper diagnosis from a Psychologist but my Psychiatrist who treats me for the depression that goes with Fibromyalgia and IC/Hunner Syndrome said he believes I have Aspergers and I have no doubt that's in my records which is usually considered a legal document. I didn't vote anyway because I don't know whether to consider that an official diagnosis because I don't have a piece of paper "myself" that says I do have Aspergers. I'm already on disability so I don't need an Aspergers diagnosis for that, not that it would help me get disability, I don't know.

The "LRRTM1" left handed neanderthal gene can be carried dormant even if someone isn't left handed.

A more in depth questionnaire might include something like "Are you right handed with any left handed family members?"

I'm sure this gene has to do with ASD. We are a secret society of people connected by our Neanderthal past. I always get along better with quirky/creative/musically intelligent/lefty type people.

I clicked "other" because, though I do have AS, I do some things with my right hand (drawing/writing, buttoning clothes, using tools and using the mouse), but other things I tend to do using the left hand (using a non-electric saw, zipping clothes, using a firearm, typing and sewing).

How can something that is generally not a choice (handedness) make someone a "sheep?" That is like saying if one is white, they are a sheep for following the "mainstream" skin color. It makes no sense.

Last edited by CyborgUprising on 24 Sep 2012, 10:50 am, edited 2 times in total.

I was born left handed. And i do think there's a connection between handedness and autism (or other issues)

Old thread, obviously, but I'm left handed.

I am diagnosed autism 299.00 but I think aspergers is more accurate; my evaluator was anticipating the new DSM V rules.

I write with either hand. I throw a ball right handed. For archery, rifles and billiards I shoot left handed. I open jars left handed, clap right handed and use a mouse lefty. I think ambiguous handed is more accurate for me than ambidextrous because with the exception of shooting pool I am better one way or the other. Often this does come in handy because if I am painting for example and I get tired with one hand I can switch to the other with only a small loss in accuracy.

I prefer neanderthals to homo sapiens as well. If you look at my picture you can see the sloping forehead and slightly heavier eye ridges. I am also shorter than average with a robust body structure.

Here is a quote from a paper that suggests at least some autistics use their right hemisphere for language instead of the left side. This seems very relevant to the question whether handedness and autism are related:

"The participants with the autism-linked variants took just as long to respond to the task and chose words that are just as appropriate as the controls did, the study found. But during the task, they showed more activity on a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan in brain regions associated with language in the right hemisphere of the brain. By contrast, the controls showed typical left hemisphere activity in these regions."

http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/in-br ... n-activity