Sources used in this document:

The first thing I noticed was that the most ordinary chores, such as brushing my teeth and accomplishing other personal hygiene tasks were extremely difficult and took much longer. On one hand, that represented an inherent limitation in the experimental design, because those issues do not ordinarily affect anybody who has always been left-handed; they would only be issues for people who have lost the use of their dominant hands and not anybody who has been left-handed since birth. However, from the perspective of a manager in business, it certainly is relevant to understanding the challenges of the thousands of injured military veterans whose lives have been changed by the loss of limbs in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 and 2011, respectively. However, I did immediately notice that my toothbrush is shaped for the right hand and that I cannot ever remember even seeing a toothbrush labeled "left-handed" in the drug store or supermarket. Possibly the most significant problem I encountered was that I was completely unable to drive my car even though it is an automatic transmission. The transmission shifter is on my right side and requires pushing a button with my thumb. I realized that learning how to drive must be that much more difficult for left-handed people because it probably is easier to use your dominant hand on the gear shifter.

In principle, the experiment reinforced how much most of us live our lives totally oblivious to many of the challenges faced by others. For example, males typically do not appreciate that when a female speaks in a group situation in the workplace, she might have concerns about the attitude of others (especially her superiors) about the competence of women, or about whether being proactive or assertive might be considered negatives when they would not be seen that way if she were male. Similarly, a Caucasian manager who lacks cultural sensitivity might not consider that an African-American or Hispanic coworker might worry that his colleagues think he might not have earned his position by merit and that he might have to work harder (and be more careful to avoid mistakes or about admitting to encountering difficulty with a task) to avoid reinforcing prejudicial assumptions that he received his position (or his educational degree) partly because of affirmative action.

In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I started considering that there might have been a point to the ridiculous aspect of the ball-and-sock design after all: because when I walk into a classroom or a job interview, the last thing on my mind is that the person might be making pejorative judgments about me as soon as they seem me and before I open my mouth. I realized that for my minority colleagues, that might not be the case: they might walk into every room feeling as though they have a sock and ball attached to their hands.