Warning: Rant
My husband and I are both left-handed.
There are approximately 708 million left-handers in the world.
Over 9% of people are left-handed.
Apparently these numbers do not meet the threshold for inclusion in product design.
My former Mr. Coffee coffeemaker had ambidextrous functionality. The flap over the water reservoir opened to the back, allowing someone to pour water easily from either side.
My new Mr. Coffee coffeemaker includes a design change. The flap over the water reservoir opens to the left, making it almost impossible for me pour water into it.
I just bought a new electric water kettle. The first time I filled it with water, I guessed at the fill limit because I saw no markings inside.
Then I read the instruction manual that referenced the maximum fill line. What? Turns out, I can only see the fill line markings if I fill the kettle while holding it in my right hand. 🤦♀️
If you are a product designer, you commit design malpractice if you fail to acknowledge the existence of left-handers.
@shansterable
It's definitely one of those things where it feels like companies are leaving good money on the table (at least they would be, if we were in an economic period where creating products that are valuable & good quality was a key to success).
The cost of designing products like these to work left-handed too is utterly negligible when compared to the free word-of-mouth publicity you would get for having leftie-friendly products in a world that is still woefully short of them.
@shansterable
Heck, I'm not left-handed, nor is anyone else in my house, but seeing someone post on Mastodon "I love my [brand] coffeemaker because it's well-designed to work for right OR left-handed people," would probably make a very good impression on me just because I personally like and prefer to buy products that are well-designed.
@artemis@shansterable Me neither but I'd happily buy a well-designed product that works for both, or from a line of products that comes in multiple versions (without charging left-handed people more).
Next time I replace our kettle I must look for one like this. Though I'm right-handed, the tap is to the right of the kitchen sink so I have to hold the kettle in my left hand to fill it. And then put it down & rotate it to see the external fill indicator. 🤷♀️
@shansterable So frustrating! My mil is left handed & asked for left handed kitchen scissors. It took me months to find the right pair. I didn't want ambidextrous scissors, I wanted left handed. She loves the one I got her, but they were costly because I ordered them from a left handed specialty store.
@Heidiknits@shansterable Would you consider sharing the band/model of the left-handed shears? My son is left-handed, and I would love to get him a pair.
It took some digging but these are the ones I purchased. I remember the scissors I got her being much more expensive. Just to warn you, they feel light (and possibly not up to the task) but she's done everything including spatchcocking chickens with the scissors & never complains.
@Aviva_Gary Yes. There's some that you can comfortably hold in each hand so technically they're ambidextrous. But the issue is, they're technically still right handed because when you hold them in your left hand you can't see where you're cutting. In order to see where you're cutting the blades need to be on the opposite side. That's what makes a left handed scissor truly left handed. (I hope this makes sense.)
@shansterable I use the plight of lefties to illustrate systemic racism/privilege. I tell my students to write down all of the problems and inconveniences that lefties encounter daily. The right-handed kids might get scissors, some sports equipment and desks/handwriting. The lefties come up with epic lists. I tell the right handed kids, "Those problems that the lefties identify were invisible to you because the world is designed for YOU." I then turn the analogy to race.
@shansterable Oh the fun I had designing the left-handed Quirkey chord keyboard and the new manuals for it! "Surely you just mirror the moulding and tell the lefties to mirror the manual?" >SMACK!<
@shansterable one thing that drives me nuts is seeing my left-handed son struggle to navigate apps that are clearly designed for right hand people. I wish apps would support a mirror flipping left to right as a standard usability feature.
@shansterable I "discovered" last week (at the age of 41) that the reason I can't spread butter on bread without tearing it full of holes is because the serrations on a butter knife just don't work for a left handed person.
Push the knife away from you (instead of pulling towards) and it's plain sailing.
@shansterable microwave ovens - it’d be nice to be able to put something in the fucking oven without the fucking door being actually in the fucking way for the entire duration of putting a thing in the thing
@RobertJackson58585858
At my past job, I had to review our company's web pages and publications. I am not color blind, but I always kept that in mind. Year after year, I kept having to remind people that color is not a sufficient enough differentiator for charts, graphs, etc. If you can't understand a graphic in black and white or grayscale, it is not good enough.
I don't get why that is so difficult for people to understand.
@shansterable@RobertJackson58585858 it’s not at all hard to understand. they just don’t give a shit. (I’m a web designer and I‘ve seen far too much of this across many areas beyond colour-blindness accessibility issues.)
@dingodog19@shansterable I just bought a battery-powered weed whacker, which works with either hand. Gas ones have to be right-handed, so many things besides weeds have been whacked around here.
@Virginicus
What brand is that? I use a Cobalt brand weed whacker that is most definitely not for lefties. I have to wear high boots because of all the debris that shoots out toward my ankles and shins. Totally sucks.
@shansterable yeah, my kettle is the same and I always guess. Frustrating.
That's also why I always go for small phones: all apps have important controls on the right so I need my thumb to be able to stretch across the screen.
@shansterable I am right-handed. Due to a medical condition I sometimes need to temporarily not use my right hand. Perhaps more product designers should be required to test their products with their “Wrong Hand”, because for others that is the dominant hand. Fortunately my partner is Left handed, & many things are set up for left here anyway. Firing a left handed bolt action rifle long ago was also very insightful. Control was so bad I shot out the cable holding the targets.
@shansterable Every wednesday I am Left handed for at least the morning, and sometimes well into the evening. The rifle belonged to the Left handed instructor on the range back then in School, and was very accurate in his hands.
@vik@shansterable Indoor 0.22” LR prone 25 yards. Very meditative. The usual rifles were a right handed Mauser bolt action, and several Ambidextrous BSA Martini actions (like in the film Zulu, but downsized for teenagers, as I was at the time), so the swap to left was an educational disruption, never having done that before.
@mil I do that too. I have a BSA Martini International MkII with a bull barrel which I have shot for over 50 years. Still shoots straighter than I can. @shansterable
@shansterable Yes! Was in the same situation, I hated that thing (also, and nothing to do with handedness, something about the pot's lip made it near impossible to pour a cup without coffee spilling out all over). Fortunately, daughter heard me complaining and got me a traditional ambidextrous maker for Xmas.
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