Lefties fight for their rights

A classroom desk as a cause of torture and medical problems? \nFor left-handed students, that's a real problem and part of the mission statement of IU's Handedness Research Institute, which views the prevalence of right-handed desks in schools as discrimination.\n"Side-biased tablet arm school desks represent an obstacle to learning from pre-school through university," said M. K. Holder, an adjunct assistant professor of psychology and director of the HRI. "Yet, this is a problem that may be easily solved by better informed parents, students, teachers, administrators, classroom designers and furniture buyers."\nThe HRI offers accurate information to the public about medical concerns and discrimination for left-handed people. \n"HRI advances the scientific understanding of handedness and helps alleviate the social and educational discrimination of left-handers worldwide through research and education," said Bipinchandra Chaugule, a regional coordinator with HRI and president of the Association of Left-handers, India. \nThe institute, founded by Holder in October 2001, was started to institutionalize what she was doing voluntarily and to allow the public to become aware of educational materials about handedness.\n"I founded HRI as a way to take the current body of science, scholarly and clinical knowledge pertaining to handedness and functional brain specialization and act to achieve a best-fit between science and society," Holder said.\nKnowledge of handedness is crucial because some problems can have long-lasting consequences, Chaugule said. \nHandedness is a world-wide issue that is researched to help the public understand the needs of left-handers. Pursuing his Ph.D. about left-handers in Indian Society, Chaugule plans to conduct research and provide public education internationally. \n"At present, we are developing a Guide for Parents and Teachers of peculiar needs of their children and will enable them to cater to them with more knowledge and understanding," Chaugule said. \nHRI is a small organization, but it works with a growing number of colleagues, which now includes regional coordinators Chaugule, Solomon J. Simutowe in Zambia and Flora Azeveda in Portugal.\nThe non-profit organization is affiliated with the Department of Psychology at IU. Being a non-profit organization made it difficult for the organization to develop, Holder said. \n"Everything we have accomplished to date has been without funding," Holder said. "Expanding our activities and implementing programs will be less difficult once financial support is established."\nThe institute has future plans to continue exploring new ways for science and society to inform each other. \n"We plan to organize conferences, host visiting intern and research fellows, expand our online educational resources and continue to name regional coordinators as collaborators on research and educational projects worldwide," Holder said. \nChaugule mentioned other future plans to further the research of the institute. \n"We intend to prepare educational materials, handedness-related issues, especially those involving education, health and public policy," Chaugule said. "For this, HRI will provide scientific expertise for collaborative educational projects and research."\nThe institute, although currently not very recognized, is appreciated by left-handers for its research.\n"I really appreciate what the HRI is doing, especially with the desk situation," freshman Maria Gloff said. "It sucks having to sit in right handed desks, and a lot of my classes there are usually only a few left-handed desks, so it will be good for us left-handers."\nHRI plans to continue the research and development of their attempt to aid the public in becoming aware of handedness. \n"HRI is helping us to achieve their respective goals by providing a lot of inputs, material, encouragement and scientific base as well as recognition which is of great value to make oneself heard and understood by the public-at-large," Chaugule said.\nFor more information, visit www.handedness.org.\n-- Contact staff writer Nellie Summerfield at nsummerf@indiana.edu.