Being a lefty...creative or adhd-i...

[la girl]

Now I was always told that my creativity...and I can be quite creative, was because I was a lefty. That left-handed people use different parts of the brain than right-handed people...and this has an impact on their ability to be creative.

Everything I do is lefty...even switch knives and forks...it can be quite a pain when people come to dinner and I've set the table my way.

So the question is, is it my adhd-i or being a complete lefty?

[Abi]

There DOES seem to be SOME degree of correlation between creativity and ADHD.

I think the correlation betw. lefthandedness and creativity is minimal.

I stand to be corrected tho.

[Kunga Dorji]

Originally Posted by la girl

Now I was always told that my creativity...and I can be quite creative, was because I was a lefty. That left-handed people use different parts of the brain than right-handed people...and this has an impact on their ability to be creative.

Everything I do is lefty...even switch knives and forks...it can be quite a pain when people come to dinner and I've set the table my way.

So the question is, is it my adhd-i or being a complete lefty?

It could be either, but more probably both.

The "official line" given out by some of the people most embedded in research is that there is no association between creativity and ADHD.
I have 2 criticisms of this- I see plenty of ADHD people with creative ideas, who never get round to putting them into action. The unreflective may consider that this lack of creative output equates with lack of creativity.

Secondly as a person diagnosed with ADHD- who was predominantly inattentive at the time of diagnosis - my real problem was not "not paying attention to anything" - it was paying attention to too many things at once and having difficulty locking on to the task at hand.
To my way of thinking a person with an active wandering mind is likely to have more little bits of information in their head than a very single pointed, goal directed person.So- given that we have lots of little interesting facts kicking round in our head, sheer random chance would indicate that there is a greater chance of novel combinations of ideas arising in our heads than in the head of a more straight ahead, business like person.
No doubt I will be asked to back that up with evidence, by some of the hardheaded science enthusiasts round here- but I would counter that by suggesting that as an argument it bears analysis, to see if it can be logically refuted.

Being left handed will also mean you are continually confronted with problem solving a world constructed for right handed people- so again you will have a different way of looking at things just because of that, never mind any different internal circuitry.

[la girl]

Originally Posted by Barliman

It could be either, but more probably both.

The "official line" given out by some of the people most embedded in research is that there is no association between creativity and ADHD.
I have 2 criticisms of this- I see plenty of ADHD people with creative ideas, who never get round to putting them into action. The unreflective may consider that this lack of creative output equates with lack of creativity.

Secondly as a person diagnosed with ADHD- who was predominantly inattentive at the time of diagnosis - my real problem was not "not paying attention to anything" - it was paying attention to too many things at once and having difficulty locking on to the task at hand.
To my way of thinking a person with an active wandering mind is likely to have more little bits of information in their head than a very single pointed, goal directed person.So- given that we have lots of little interesting facts kicking round in our head, sheer random chance would indicate that there is a greater chance of novel combinations of ideas arising in our heads than in the head of a more straight ahead, business like person.
No doubt I will be asked to back that up with evidence, by some of the hardheaded science enthusiasts round here- but I would counter that by suggesting that as an argument it bears analysis, to see if it can be logically refuted.

Being left handed will also mean you are continually confronted with problem solving a world constructed for right handed people- so again you will have a different way of looking at things just because of that, never mind any different internal circuitry.

Your absolutely right about it being a right-handed world. Some teacher noticed I couldn't cut paper at school at five, so she must have told my parents. My Dad got me left-handed scissors, amazing...I was so proud of the scissors and that I could actually cut things perfectly.

All through school there were no left-handed desks, that's why we all turn our papers sideways, it must look weird I guess.

Things have gotten a little better in that area I have a left-handed potato peeler, yay, but to say more could be done would be an understatement. Just opening a door can be frustrating...the handles and the way it opens...I always get it wrong.

Still not sure about the creativity, but I agree with you that we can't stay focused because we have so many things going on in our minds...it never occurred to me that this might foster creative solutions to things, but it totally makes sense.

[fracturedstory]

I'm right handed but I'm both logical and creative. My non medicated ADHD-I prefers to be artistic where my medicated ADHD likes to be more logical. Off meds I can be both too. Brain fog gets in the way of me quoting a science book though.

It has been said that left handed people use their right brain more and vice versa. I think it's bollocks.

My artistic skills come from my dad's side who may have been on the autism spectrum and he also had a memory for facts. I really think creativity is in your genes.

[shysmile]

I am highly creative, and an ADHD righty.