Does anyone else have Facial Blindness

[Octopus37]

I have this, have kind of known for a while but find the whole thing so embarrassing. I was just wondering if anyone else has it and how they deal with it. Please no piss takes cause I'm feeling a bit yuk about the whole thing right now.

Me! I hate it. I hate that most people must think im exceptionally rude because i dont recognise them for ages. For example, took dd for her jabs yesterday, heath visitor came into the room (my heath visitor who i have met numerous times) blanked her until she started speaking and then it clicked as i recognised her voice.
Anyway, sorry no advice on how to deal with it because i havent managed to deal with it myself yet. Hopefully somebody else might come along with advice for both of us!

🙋🏼‍♀️

Hello!

Yep. I've walked past my in-laws, my best friend, my own parents...

I cope by being honest with people and taking the piss out of myself. I also remember things like hairstyles, height, gait, clothing preferences, things like that.

But mostly I take the piss out of myself 😁.

Interestingly (to me anyway) DS has Aphantasia - I sometimes wonder if there's a link.

I'm awful for this. I could be chatting all day to someone and if i passed them the next day I'd not recognise them at all. It takes me ages to get to know people and put names to faces. I have to try really hard. I've become really good at open chit chat designed to give me clues as to who people are and if I should know them or not.

My husband does (as well as many other 'quirks') He's always had it but also didn't realise till he was an adult. He recognises other people by their hair mostly (which is awkward if they cut it and it's a long standing colleague). Clothing, movement and voice also works if he knows them well. There's been many, many embarrassing moments but luckily, one of his 'quirks' is that he feels no embarrassment or social awkwardness at all. He has to work very hard on his self awareness!

I'm not saying it's never been difficult for him but once he learned to accept the way he is and that his brain is just wired differently then it's become easier to find his 'work arounds' - the world really isn't set up for difference so you have to find your own ways of dealing.

Do you know if you have any other 'wiring' problems too? DH is also dyslexic, dyspraxic and has number blindness. My daughter is also dyslexic and dyspraxic - it makes for an interesting household!

Yes, and it's a struggle. I know when I meet people that I'm unlikely to recognise them again so I find myself unconsciously studying them so I recognise them later- I've been called out on this more than once! I also mistake people for others- like 2 women who next to each other look nothing alike at all yet I might think I'm talking to one when it's the other. It's like my brain goes yep, we know this woman from somewhere, must be x. Or my brain senses I know them and runs through everyone I know until deciding. I've never told anyone. I used to be in a long-distance relationship and always worried I wouldn't recognise him at the airport, like really worried. Feels so pathetic.

I don't know if this is face blindness or something else; I can't recall faces. I can recognise some one when I meet them or see a photo but I can't recall or accurately describe faces.

I have this. I have to keep my DSs hair fairly long as if they have as short as all the other children I can't recognise them in school uniform.

I tend to recognise people by their gait and stature and sometimes their hair. I just have to work really hard to remember each day what people were wearing as I have been known to not recognise colleagues who I sat next to in work when I saw them later in the supermarket at lunchtime.
When I realised it was an issue and most people don't have face blindness I knew I had to make the effort to overcome it any way possible but it is such hard work sometimes.

Me too. I can't stand it either. I recognise people in context, eg in work, school yard, etc, but if I see them in the street I won't recognise them. I try to remember hair, coats, or some other 'difference', but if they look normal, like everyone else, I'm stuffed.

I do. What's even worse is that it comes and goes and sometimes can be quite severe. I sometimes can't even remember super obvious characteristics like race or gender or whether they wear glasses or have a beard. Luckily I have a very very good memory for life facts about people and remember the weirdest obscure things about people's lives.

So when I meet people, I make a point of telling them immediately that I am sporadically Face Blind, but that I will always remember that they "have X number of children and were born in Y and like fried Z." So I suggest that if they see me again, they prompt me with something about their lives and then I will remember everything about them even if I can't visually recognize them. I find that people are intrigued by this and like to test me on my memory of weird facts that they've told me and it keeps them from being insulted that I can't visually recognize them.

Yes I’m like this too. I go on social cues and hope for the best mainly. I’m very open about it and tell people not to be worried if I don’t have a clue who they are by tomorrow. Weirdly over the phone I can remember voices from years ago.

Have not recognised my daughter on 3 occasions. Never happened with my son weirdly.

That would be overstating it, but maybe a mild version. If I’ve only met someone a few times I tend to think “well, it might them them, but I dunno”. I can remember general characteristics but pinning down the detail can be hard. I could just be incredibly short sighted though, who knows. I just say, I’m so sorry, I’m crap at faces.

Yes, me! One of the most annoying things is I find watching films almost impossible, it’s hard to follow a plot if you don’t know who anyone is.

I’msorry me too! Even with kids films. My husband has given up trying to take me to the cinema. Or he has to spend the 30 MIN’s after the end of the film explaining to me what the plot was...

Me too and like a PP's DH, I'm just honest about it.

I do have lots of Facebook posts though, asking who the guests are on the One Show, because I never know who anyone is.

Thanks very much for all your replies. To date I have coped by remembering hair, details, social cues etc. I also find voice recognition. I think people know, its just so awful. I had a horrible experience when I didn't recognise my Brother in law in his car the other day when he picked me up from the station. I tried to cover it up by saying that I didn't realise he had the car he had. Really embarrasing and awful tbh, have spent the last couple of days worrying myself silly that he has said something to my Sister. Think she knows I have this but doesn't really get it and I am thinking about saying something about it but haven't got the guts. Would love not to feel embarrassed, I am mortified and have actually felt sick the last couple of days cause I am so stressed about it. With regards to other quirks, I have an eye problem (squint that has been impossible to correct despite a few surgeries as it is variable), I am a bit clumsy, I am not dyslexic but I do have an awful sense of direction. If I come clean with people, worry that they will think Ii am making a big thing of it and not believe me.

Me. I have it to a degree. I also have no pictures in my head. I can't do mindfulness things like imagine 'you are in a forest'
And the memory tricks which involve picturing things or putting Home in a storyto help remember them are hopeless.
I assume it's all the same part of the brain.

yep i have it too. Its very embarrasing when talking to people who recognise me but i have no idea who they are. The school playground is the worst - mums regularly ask me things about my dd like how she's getting on, what clubs she does, and i feel like they think i'm really self-absorbed by not asking about their child, but the truth is i don't recognise them or know who their child is! i've tried to memorise as many people as possible by trying to study their features but i just end up getting muddled up, unless their is something very distinctive about them. Its really hard work and makes me feel socially awkward.

Me too, I’m dyspraxic. I remember lots of facts about people but not their faces unless I know them very well. And if they change their hair or something that makes it worse.

I have no trouble at all with people in real life, in fact I have a really good memory for faces but for some reason I can't tell people apart in films, unless an actor is really distinguishable I can't tell who is who in film. All current American actresses might as well be the same person as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, me, but it took me until I was in my forties to work it out.

I remember walking from the Finance Office to the Main Office at work once, after having a long chat with the Finance guy.

When I walked into the Main Office, a bloke at the photocopier said hi to me. I was polite, but it was really bugging me that I had no idea where I knew him from. It wasn't until I managed to read his lanyard that I realised that it was the bloke from the Finance Office that I had been speaking to about five minutes before!

I didn't recognise him out of context. It happens to me all the time. I try to find a distinguishing mark now, like a tattoo or something, as I no longer work in a place that has lanyards. Very handy for the likes of us, lanyards are.

Lanyard sounds weird now. Lanyard, lanyard, lanyard.

Yes I do and my family are always asking me why on earth I didn't say hello to someone who I have just passed. I am now so aware of this I tend to overcompensate by thinking that I recognise people from a distance and waving cheerily and then realise that I don't actually know them - it's a bit embarrassing as I can't seem to win whatever I do.

Yes. I think people think I'm standoff ish. But I honestly don't recognise people. I have to have net them lots of times. It's embarrassing but I try and be honest with people...

I have it. Quite badly. Embarrassingly so. I keep reminding myself to look at someone's face to try and pick out a redeeming feature, but regularly forget to actually do this in practice.

I remember people pretty easily but can forget where I knew them from.

Also it takes me a while to get used to their face

When I worked in a store and we had shoplifters, I could not have told you anything about them apart from they were male and taller than me...which isn't difficult