United Brachial Plexus Network

Unfortunately I was injured on my dominant arm and I've been trying to get used to writing with my left hand. So far I write well but slow. It makes it impossible to take notes with my left hand in class. I use my bpi arm as paper weight now. Anyways I'd just like to know if anyone has gotten to a point where they write almost as fast as they did with their other arm.

I'm only 16 years old and I'm wondering if they allow you to drive with just your left hand in the state of California.

Hi Andre, good question about getting used to using your non-dominant hand...personally, I never really had too much of a problem; my job needed me to be pretty dextrous with both and I was always slightly ambidextrous anyway, always automatically trying to use my left hand before finding it more comfortable using the right.

My handwriting was always a terrible mess with my right anyway, and now I have to use lefty, and take my time a bit more, it's better than before...although slower. Writing with a left hand is difficult anyway since we all write from left to right...you hand can cover up what you have written etc etc It's a good idea to use the BPI arm to hold down the paper...I find that a clipboard on top of Dycem (non-slip)matting is good too..

I know you must find it hard taking notes etc..wouldn't they let you use a mini-recorder in class? worth asking maybe, then you could work from them. I found typing with one hand a bit difficult, 'cos I use mainly one finger, but it's amazing how fast I can be tho...I'm not that accurate typing sometimes but I put that mainly down to my eyesight getting bad (I'm getting on in years now!)

Lizzy B :0)

When I first got my BPI, I was also confined to a wheelchair for 4 months. During that time I taught myself to use my non-dominant hand. I went back to writing the way I'd been taught in Infant School (Elementary school ?) by just writing loads of a s, until they looked right, then loads of b s etc. Now my writing is as neat as it was when I used my right hand, & only a little slower. Holding the paper down, especially as it nears the bottom of the page, is the thing that slows me down the most. I rarely write letters now, as I can type quicker than I can write. I use Dycem, a left-handed cheque book which makes life a little easier (or a Switch card which makes life a lot easier !), and Post-it Notes.

Andre
I as well injured my dominate arm. The writing thing was a bit hard at first, my left hand is just not that fast! I talked with my professors the first days of class and let them know! They were great about it. They offered at my college, someone to come to class and take notes for me and write my things but I was not interested! I wanted to do it myself and I did. Some classes I had a tape recorder but others I just wrote, as fast as I could. I am almost as fast now as I was with my dominate right arm. I will agree with Liz that in general it is hard writing with the left as you cover it up as you go. College can be a bit different from high school but I also know that there were many peeps in my classes that would bring a laptop to class to type notes instead of writing them, just easier that way. That might be an option too.

As far as driving, I am in Michigan so I am not sure about California. I have no restrictions on my license, except my contacts! I had my license before my crash, I had to renew it at 21, that was 4 days before my craash. Im not sure what will happen next year when I have to renew it at 25 though. i have no adaptaions on my truck either, some will yell about htis! I think whatever is comfortable for you, however you are comfortable driving, whatever the state says. Are you still in a sling? Do you have any mobility in the arm? I have great hand function and good triceps, the rest is still coming, I can drive with 2 hands if I need to, but I am LAZY!!!!!! Hope this helps a bit!

COurt xo

Hi, I didn't injure my dominant arm but I do live in California. I decided that I wanted to be retested for driving because I thought that if I was ever in an accident they would blame me whether it was my fault or not. So after talking to several people at the DMV I found out that there is a form you can get from them which your Dr. fills out, sends it to them and then they contact you for a drive test. The test was the same as a non-injured person would take. Based on how you do on the test they will recommend modifications or not to your vehicle. Fortunately they determined I could drive fine - no modifications. I started the process in October and it wasn't until the end of January they set up my test - real speedy response time. In this case the delay worked in my favor because I have regained use of my arm quite a bit - far from complete but it can assist in driving. In Oct it would have been useless. So, now if I do have an accident, they won't be able to automatically blame the gimpy arm because I have the drive test on file at the dmv. I'd definately be concerned of driving without this because it could cost a lot in case of an accident - insurance could even be void if they determined that you didn't declare the "handicap" properly. Obviousely personal comfort levels have to be considered in deciding to drive or not but there are also legal liability issues. Our BPI injuries have already affected our lives dramatically but I think we should all be responsible to ourselves and others on the road when we decide to drive or not. If for no other reason than to make sure that you or your family don't lose everything in a lawsuit - I knew I couldn't afford for my insurance company to decide I wasn't covered because I was driving handicapped and hadn't been properly tested to determine if my injiry hindered my driving ability.

Good luck in your driving and retraining your left arm for dominance.

Lorrie

Again, there is no problem with the note taking in high school or college. The schools have to provide equal acess/resonable accomidation. The note takers are generaly members of your own class who get paid for the notes that they are taking anyway. It all works out, especially if you get an education and help somebody else out.
onepaw

Well--had my r. arm amped 2 yrs after accident---it's been 10 yrs+ now and I write as well, tie my boots, ride my motorcycle, hunt w/rifle, crossbow. Fish, scuba dive--recently learned how to drive a nail. Bout the only thing I had to give up was playing guitar. There's a lot of things I need "help" with when working on my car--5-speed Camaro-- and really heavy OR really intricate work on car/bike parts--the little clips and screws in a carburator for intance--or splitting cases on a bike engine--but on the whole I've found that if you really wanna do something you will find a way. Personally I swore I would not go thru life wearin' K-mart velcro shoes--so I learned to tie my laces. Writing was a snap. Sit in front of the T.V. w/a pad and pen and just doodle. Learn to control the pen. Work on your alphabet--over and over and over. "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog". Before you know it you're writing like it was nothin but a thang. Tying your shoes is even easier. took me 20 mins to figure out. if it CAN be done you'll figure a way to do it. Button fly jeans--leather jacket zipper-- O.K., I'll admit, my ear rings give me a problem--but I'm working on it--ronin

Ronin i have a quick question for you, i had to sell my Mustang after my motorcycle accident because i can't drive a standard any more. How do you drive a standard tranny with one hand. Any help on this topic would be great, i hate driving an automatic. Thanks Ed.

I was wondering about your note taking probs--at the local college here they have students who work as "facilitators" for special needs students. One thing they do is help take notes. -R

It is none of my business, but I don't think is safe to drive a standard car with one hand. In case of an accident i don't think your insurance will cover. I drive with one hand, but there is a restriction on my driver's license that has to be an automatic car. Just a thought.