Light switches wired wrongly

[Odds]

If they are only using a fork, then yes, that's what nearly all right-handed people would do.

However, when using knife and fork (e.g. to cut up food), nearly all right-handed people would use the fork in the left hand (and knife in their right hand). That makes sense, since one is then using one's dominant (right) hand to do most of the 'activity' (lifting food to mouth with fork or cutting it with knife).

Most right-handed Americans do both of the above. First they cut up the food, with fork in left hand and knife in right hand. They then 'discard' the knife and eat the food (lift it into their mouth) using a fork in their right hand.

I'll quibble with the use of the word 'most' in that assessment.
I know plenty of Americans who do nothing of the kind.

 

[securespark]

If I may ask, how bad is your right-sided weakness? Does it affect your legs as well as arms and, if so, can you walk reasonably well? ... and have you had any speech problems?

Yes, my leg is affected. In fact, it is worse than the arm. It is shorter than the left leg and the Achilles was very tight, meaning I could not put my heel down. This meant that I could only walk on the toe on the right side. I had to have several operations as a kid to correct this.

i have no movement in my right toes. I can send a signal from my brain to my left toes to move them and that's fine, they move. But the right ones, nada.
The best I can do is bend the right foot at the ankle. And three of the right toes are screwed up (the others were straightened out in an op years ago).

I wear orthotic boots because my feet are completely different sizes and my gait is such that it has to be compensated for by specially shaped soles. Also, the right boot has a raise to compensate for the leg being 22mm shorter.

And lastly, I have an AFO (Ankle Foot Othosis) which helps minimise foot drop. In other words, it helps me to pick my foot up so it doesn't catch when (for example) climbing steps.

It's got a metal plate that fits under the insole of my boot, then a metal spine travels up the lower leg, attached to which is a shin pad that velcros to the calf.

The arm doesn't get such fancy accessories. I'm not sure there is such a thing, but I'm seeing Orthotics soon, so I will ask.

Basically with the arm, it sometimes jerks when I'm trying to use it, so a gentle movement becomes an excessive one and sometimes when I'm not intending to use it at all, the muscles twitch and the arm moves involuntarily.
Which is awkward when you're leaving a restaurant and you're walking past a table set with lots of wine glasses...

The restaurant were very kind about it, but I insisted on paying for the glasses because I felt really bad about it.

Since that incident, I put my right hand into my trouser pocket when I'm not using it.

Walking is slow and I have to stop frequently to rest. I use sticks.

I'm still recovering from my Trimalleolar Fracture which is hampering my walking even further. I am even slower than normal! But hopefully I will make a full recovery. Physio have told me it could take 18 months, but they have also said that some people who have an ankle break like mine never make a full recovery. However, I am determined to be optimistic.

But, all said and done, I don't feel hard done by in life. I have managed to get by and achieve what I wanted to in life and I realise there are people who are more hampered by their disabilities than I am, and I don't let myself forget that.

My Mum, bless her, beats herself up daily because she blames herself for my condition.
I try and tell her there was nothing she could have done, but sadly, I will never change that.

I was a face-up presentation at birth (that's the bit my Mum blames herself for). I got stuck in the birth canal and the doctors thought I was a goner. So they decided to leave me until the morning. They said to Mum that they would birth me in the morning and if I was still alive, all the better, but they weren't hopeful.

Meanwhile, a priest came along and administered the last rites.
I can't imagine how my poor Ma must have been feeling!

But anyway, come 04:30, I was born, and the rest is history.

 

[morqthana]

I know you won't mind the correction...

Your M-i-L sounds like my late F-i-L in that respect. He was so rigidly obsessed with the fact that it was 'very rude' not to use cutlery 'improperly' that he probably would have moaned about someone with only one hand 'not using 'a knife and fork'

I'd have been tempted to eat peas off a knife just to wind him up...

It's not unknown in our house for us to use a spoon if there's gravy or the sauce from a casserole left on the plate at the end. And of course in France it's absolutely OK to use bread to mop that up.

 

[JohnW2]

I'll quibble with the use of the word 'most' in that assessment. ... I know plenty of Americans who do nothing of the kind.

OK, we can quibble about my word 'most'.

I can only speak from personal experience, and all I can say is that it what I've seen the majority of Americans doing, particularly when they are in America. When they come over here, at least some seem to feel that they should adopt 'the 'UK convention'!

 

[JohnW2]

I know you won't mind the correction...

Indeed not. Thanks for noticing

I'd have been tempted to eat peas off a knife just to wind him up...

Funny you should say that! I don't think I ever did it with a knife, but I frequently wound him up by turning my fork over and 'shovelling up' the peas - I was apparently expected to try to 'spear' them, one at a time, with the fork, which is a slow and tedious process

It's not unknown in our house for us to use a spoon if there's gravy or the sauce from a casserole left on the plate at the end. And of course in France it's absolutely OK to use bread to mop that up.

You must live in a fairly civilised house. In my house, it's not unknown to see tongues, rather than spoons or bread, being used for that purpose

 

[morqthana]

In my house, it's not unknown to see tongues, rather than spoons or bread, being used for that purpose

People's or dog's?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I'd have been tempted to eat peas off a knife just to wind him up...

I've never quite got the hang, of turning a fork over, to use it as a shovel for peas - I tend to load the down pointed fork up with mash, then dip it in the peas. No mash, then I struggle by trying to stab the peas.

 

[JohnW2]

People's or dog's?

Usually only the former (since we don't have any dogs of our own), but on the occasions when we find ourselves dog-sitting, sometimes the latter

 

[JohnW2]

I've never quite got the hang, of turning a fork over, to use it as a shovel for peas - I tend to load the down pointed fork up with mash, then dip it in the peas. No mash, then I struggle by trying to stab the peas.

Shovelling the peas with an upturned fork is, at least in my experience, by far the most effective (and least frustrating) approach

 

[morqthana]

Chopsticks are fun

 

[JohnW2]

Yes, my leg is affected. In fact, it is worse than the arm. It is shorter than the left leg and the Achilles was very tight, meaning I could not put my heel down. This meant that I could only walk on the toe on the right side. I had to have several operations as a kid to correct this. ... i have no movement in my right toes. I can send a signal from my brain to my left toes to move them and that's fine, they move. But the right ones, nada. .. The best I can do is bend the right foot at the ankle. And three of the right toes are screwed up (the others were straightened out in an op years ago)...... Walking is slow and I have to stop frequently to rest. I use sticks.

You are clearly significantly disabled, which I'm sorry to hear.

The arm doesn't get such fancy accessories. I'm not sure there is such a thing, but I'm seeing Orthotics soon, so I will ask. .... Basically with the arm, it sometimes jerks when I'm trying to use it, so a gentle movement becomes an excessive one and sometimes when I'm not intending to use it at all, the muscles twitch and the arm moves involuntarily. Which is awkward when you're leaving a restaurant and you're walking past a table set with lots of wine glasses...

That's quite a common problem. Indeed, those who have an arm that can do virtually nothing sometimes elect to have it removed, since it can be more than a nuisance than an asset.

I'm still recovering from my Trimalleolar Fracture which is hampering my walking even further. I am even slower than normal! But hopefully I will make a full recovery. Physio have told me it could take 18 months, but they have also said that some people who have an ankle break like mine never make a full recovery. However, I am determined to be optimistic.

You've certainly been in the wars but I'm sure you are right to remain optimistic.

But, all said and done, I don't feel hard done by in life. I have managed to get by and achieve what I wanted to in life and I realise there are people who are more hampered by their disabilities than I am, and I don't let myself forget that.

Quite. As I wrote before, it is a tribute to you that you have managed to make as much of your life as you have. Sadly, a lot of people in such positions tend to simply 'write themselves off'.

My Mum, bless her, beats herself up daily because she blames herself for my condition. .... I try and tell her there was nothing she could have done, but sadly, I will never change that.

Your Mum's feels of guilt are understandable, and very common in such situations - even though, as you say there was nothing she could have done to change things.

I was a face-up presentation at birth (that's the bit my Mum blames herself for). I got stuck in the birth canal and the doctors thought I was a goner. So they decided to leave me until the morning. They said to Mum that they would birth me in the morning and if I was still alive, all the better, but they weren't hopeful.

That is/was, unfortunately, the classical way of ending up with CP. Our first daughter also 'got stuck face up' but that was fortunately successfully addressed fairly quickly with forceps (first rotating her into the correct position and then delivering her) such that she thankfully suffered no lasting problems (even though she had to spend the first few days of her life in a 'special care' unit).

These days, at least partially on the advice of their lawyers, they move to Caesarian Section very rapidly in such situations. My 'other daughter' had her first child about 3 years ago and, again, the baby got stuck the wrong way around - but this time she was on the operating table and having the baby (who is fine) delivered by CS within 10 or 15 minutes.

 

[JohnW2]

Well I use a fork in my right and knife in my left because I'm normal

Well, seriously, that's very unusual for right-handed people.

Being 'strongly right-handed', I would personally struggle to use a knife in my left hand.

 

[JohnW2]

Chopsticks are fun

Oh my goodness, he wouldn't "do" such 'foreign things'.

We once took him to a Chinese restaurant when he made a tremendous fuss until they gave him some 'proper cutlery'!

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Shovelling the peas with an upturned fork is, at least in my experience, by far the most effective (and least frustrating) approach

I was taught to never do it.

 

[pete01]

Well, seriously, that's very unusual for right-handed people.

Being 'strongly right-handed', I would personally struggle to use a knife in my left hand.

I've always done it so did my Dad, I can also play cricket either way, not that I've done that for a few years