(Video Link)
Matt Stutzman was born without arms, but that didn't become him from becoming a highly successful archer, both in competition and deer hunting. He quite properly bills himself as the "Inspirational Archer", and I started to write this post with that as the central theme. But then I found this video buried in his website, and it strikes me as even more amazing than the archery. Stutzman, using only his feet, changes the brake pads on his car. Link -via Blame It on the Voices
Previously: Man Born without Arms Shoots, Reloads Handgun
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More generalized; we tend to dwell on our strengths and neglect our weaknesses, not just our handedness.
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The fact that most of us cannot do this is really a case of learned non-use. We have learned from a very young age to favor certain limbs for certain tasks. Most notably we learn to favor one hand over the other hand or the feet. Someone will tell us we are "Right Handed" and that we are strongest with that hand. We will then continue using it and neglecting our other hand. Consequently our other hand will be undeveloped and relatively useless for any precise work, as will our feet be. When we lose the use of our favored limb, we then have to learn to adapt using or disfavored limbs. As a kid with long toes I would use them frequently to manipulate objects and therefor am fairly dexterous with them, but not like Matt here, I do have other limbs I favor. However, immediately after learning that my right-handedness was a matter of favoritism I began practicing left-handedness whenever I thought of it and subsequently improved the use of my left hand as well.
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Needed more footage.
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Damn... I can't even change my brake pads with my hands... Kuddos.
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His name is Matt, not Mark. He says it right in the beginning of the video.
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