I don't recognise people

[GilmoreMe]

I've always been the same, I don't recognise people's faces if they're not where I expect them to be.
People have always thought me rude and stand offish because I ignore them but actually I simply haven't realised it was them. On a day out in London a couple stopped and spoke to my husband and me and were really friendly and it took them mentioning my brother and sister in law for me to realise they were her parents - who I've known for about 11 years and met countless times. Scenarios like this happen all the time and I never ever recognise people on TV if they're on a different programme as a different character.
Is this a thing? Or just me?

Yeah I have autism and have it

Oh I’ve found my tribe.

I’m not aware I’ve always had this...I used to be able to tell my twin friends ,
Apart and they wore the same clothes ..since I last saw them aged 11 no problem but over the years I’ve become aware of the difficulties I have in following plots of films .
I think random sums thisUp excellently

I have it too

I really struggle to recognise non-distinctive people if I don’t know W them well, and even if they do if they’ve had their haircut or have changed their coat colour. It makes it really hard to talk to people when you either can’t remember them, or you remember them a bit, but can’t be sure if it is them or a stranger. Most of the time there are work arounds, but sometimes I have really embarrassed myself.

And yes to the minds eye too. I hope I never have to describe someone to the police. I would be worse than useless.

A crime could be committed in front of me and I’d struggle to describe the person to the police.
I have to check in with dh when watching a film who is who if they look similar.
I am quite good at voice recognition though
I’m really good at car navigation with a map, but set me down in a busy city centre , park the car ..go shopping and I will,struggle to find it.

It definitely seems to have become noticeable as I’ve got older.
In fact one of the best films I’ve seen at the cinema was widows...as it had the sub titles.
I would always recognise my friends and relatives..so not too bad..I hope it doesn’t worsen though

I’ve had no brain injury and as far as I’m aware I’m not autistic.
In fact my grandson is and he has a wonderful memory for detail.

I am totally this. It's so embarrassing when I'm with dh in town someone will stop & chat and when they go I'll be like who's that? And dh will say it's.whoever of course!! I know I come across as rude! If I see someone everyday and they usually wear a blue jumper I'll learn it's Bob and say Hi Bob! but if the next day Bob wears a red jumper I'll walk past him in the street.

Oh, I have this a little bit. I thought Robb Stark and Jon Snow were the same person in Game of Thrones for 2 whole seasons. In my defense, they were very rarely in scenes together!

It's a thing! Several people in my family have prosopagnosia. There's a test you can do which can be found online.

If this is the test and I’ve scored it right
I got 53..so very mild
But my problem is movie characters with no distinguishing features, people I don’t know too well out of context, people who change their appearance..hair colour, hair cut..style of clothing,
School photos...recognising myself if I don’t recognise the clothes and recognising other children
Yes and not being able to give an accurate description of a person should I have to to describe a criminal

I used to be excellent at seeing a new word and memorising it immediately and being able to spell it straightaway..I’m now struggling with The word Prosopagnosia

Not sure if that is related.

I recognise faces most of the time. What I often have trouble with is remembering who they are. As for their names, no chance.

Rutherford and fry on radio 4 have just done a great podcast about this- featuring Stephen Fry as he also suffers from it.

@GallicosCats me too!

I have this too. I have to meet someone several times before I start to recognise them. Seeing people out of context is hard. I used to struggle with patients. If they were in their bedspace it was okay. If they came up to the nurses station to ask me something, I hadn't a clue who they were...

I'm hopeless with films- spend the whole time going " So is that his sister then? The one who shot him?" Whilst every goes "noooo! 🙈"

I'm good with voices though- might be why I prefer the radio...

I have this and when I discovered it was a "thing." It msde sense of why I struggled teaching at a large secodnary school... i couldnt place the teachers, mever mind the kiss. Ive struggled with a group of 12 adults over the course of a year...

Its made me realise some jobs arent for me 😳. I so wish I could recognise people. It affects so many things. People will think Im off with them or dont like them or are over friendly or havent mentioned X. Its really hard.

My child is autistic and NOT faceblind. This kind of thing makes me wonder if I am autistic though!

If you want to help research the condition, Swansea uni are doing a research project (it also diagnoses you, if you want confirmation that you have it) www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office/news-archive/2018/findithardtorecognisefacesswanseaexpertsappealtopublictohelpresearchintolittle-knowncondition.php
I've done it and it doesn't take that long, they emailed my results a few weeks later.

Thanks for that Selford - I'll definitely look into it!