MATT: What do these people have in common?
If you answered with, "They're all awesome,"
you'd probably be right, but there's one more thing.
Me and my close friends here are all left-handed.
(UNENTHUSIASTICALLY) Yay!
Yay.
Around one in every 10 people are left-handed,
and they're often pretty easy to spot.
But no-one really knows why left-handed people
are actually left-handed.
Some theories are that there's a left-handed gene,
that the brains of lefties are just wired differently
or that left-handers might be copying the behaviour
of their left-handed parents.
Hi, Dad.
Hello, son.
He really is left-handed.
Anyway, however we came to be,
us lefties aren't alone in the world.
Scientists have found almost all kangaroos are left-handed too.
Well, left-pawed, really.
And while that hasn't stopped our kangaroo friends
from hopping about enjoying life,
throughout history it's been a different story for humans.
Lefties have been called witches, unclean, possessed by the devil
or just clumsy in the past.
And back when everyone wrote with ink,
kids were actually forced to use their right hand -
even if they were left-handed.
It sounds pretty unfair,
but having said that, this is really messy.
Today, no-one is going to call you a witch for being left-handed,
but there are still some pretty big disadvantages
to living in a right-handed world.
If you want to change instruments,
it's pretty hard to learn how to play an instrument
because the instruments are mostly made
for right-handed people.
Sometimes it's hard to, like, write.
I do magic, and I have to learn certain moves with my hand
and I have to force them to do those sort of positions
and it can be really annoying.
Being a lefty has encouraged Alex to work really hard
at perfecting his magic act.
But that's not the only unexpected benefit.
Some studies have shown that being left-handed means you're more likely
to be good at subjects like music and math.
There's also a really high proportion of geniuses
that have been left-handed,
although that could just be a coincidence.
And it can be a big advantage
when you're playing sport against right-handed people too.
People say that when you are left-handed
your writing is more neater and you draw better
so I'd rather stay left-handed.
I kind find it nice being left-handed.
I don't think that you're different in a bad way.
I think that you're unique in a special way.
Anyway, that's what Left-handers' Day is all about -
celebrating left-handedness and why we're proud of it.
Plus, it's a really good excuse to make right-handed people
do all your right-handed work.
Can you cut this out for me? No!
But I'm left-handed.
Ugh! OK, fine.