Editing Ambidexterity (section)

{{Short description|Ability to do any task equally well with either hand}}
{{redirect|Ambidextrous|the novel by Felice Picano|Ambidextrous (novel)}}
{{Distinguish|Cross-dominance}}
'''Ambidexterity''' is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ambidextrous?q=Ambidexterity#ambidextrous__5/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208150521/https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/ambidextrous?q=Ambidexterity#ambidextrous__5/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 8, 2015|title=ambidextrous - Definition of ambidextrous in English by Oxford Dictionaries|website=Oxford Dictionaries - English}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rightleftrightwrong.com/what.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20151129173049/http://www.rightleftrightwrong.com/what.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 29, 2015|title=Right, Left, Right, Wrong! - What is Handedness?|website=www.rightleftrightwrong.com}}</ref> When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that a person has no [[Handedness|marked preference for the use of the right or left hand]].

[[File:Writing with both hands.png|thumb|right|A person is writing with both hands.]]

Only about one percent of people are naturally ambidextrous, which equates to about 80,000,000 people in the world today.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100125094511.htm|title=Mixed-handed children more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems, study finds|website=ScienceDaily|access-date=25 June 2023}}</ref> In modern times, it is common to find some people considered ambidextrous who were originally left-handed and who learned to be ambidextrous, either by choice or as a result of training in schools or in jobs where right-handedness is often emphasized or required.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021|reason=Reliable source needed for the first part of the sentence.}} Since many everyday devices such as [[can opener]]s and [[scissors]] are asymmetrical and designed for right-handed people, many left-handers learn to use them right-handedly due to the rarity or lack of left-handed models. Thus, left-handed people are more likely to develop [[motor skill]]s in their non-dominant hand than right-handed people.