International Left Handers Day is observed annually on August 13 to celebrate the uniqueness and differences of the left handers. The day was first observed in 1976 by Dean R. Campbell, founder of the Lefthanders International, Inc.
International Left Hander's Day was created to celebrate sinistrality and raise awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of being left-handed in a predominantly right-handed world. It celebrates left-handed people’s uniqueness and differences, a subset of humanity comprised of seven to ten percent of the world's population. The day also spread awareness on issues faced by left-handers e.g. the importance of the special needs for left-handed children, and the likelihood for left-handers to develop schizophrenia. There are approximately 708 million left-handed people in the world. Men are more likely to be left handed than women.
Notable left-handers include:
- Bill Gates
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Edwin Buzz Aldrin (was a native left-hander but changed to use his right hand)
- Jim Lovell
- Julius Caesar
- Barack Obama
- Bill Clinton
- Gerald Ford
- Ronald Reagan
- George H.W. Bush
- John F. Kennedy, Jr.
- David Rockefeller
- Oprah Winfrey
- Steve Forbes
- Aristotle
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Alan Turing
- Michelangelo
- Vincent van Gogh
- Raphael
- David Bowie
- Lionel Messi
- Pelé -Edson Arantes do Nascimento
- Diego Maradona
- Marie Curie
- Issac Newton
- Angelina Jolie
- Brad Pitt
- Tom Cruise
- Nicole Kidman
- Keanu Reeves
- Slyvester Stallone
- Emma Thompson
- Bruce Willis
- Tim Allen
- Amitabh Bachchan
- Marilyn Monroe
- Charlie Chaplin
- Napoléon Bonaparte
- Alexander the Great
- Ramesses II
- Fidel Castro
- Benjamin Netanyahu
- Henry Ford
- Helen Keller
- Lewis Carroll
- Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
- Sergei Rachmaninoff
- Sachin Tendulkar
Happy International Lefthanders Day!
Source(s): wikipedia | newsweek