Anyone with Face blindness? Looking for tips

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I've always had face blindness and it's always caused problems socially with people thinking I'm rude. But I swear it's getting worse with age. I saw someone who I've seen weekly for 12 weeks outside of their usual setting this week and didn't recognise them at all until I twigged her accent. It's causing problems in work when I can spend all evening with them at a networking event then not recognise them again.

Other than making physical notes on someone's appearance- which in itself I can see getting me into trouble- any help or suggestions? Thanks 😊

I've got this too !

I worked with two women for a whole year not able to tell which was which ,I have aspbergers and believe it's common.

Anyway they both have yellow short hair with a fringe . It got embarrassing and eventually I figured out who was who. - Donna has the round face and is smiley ,whereas Carol has a sharp nose, frowny face. !

I don't have ASD or autism. I do however have other visual distortion issues (e.g. can't read music, or analogue clocks) so there might be a wider visual processing issue.

I sometimes struggle with TV shows and films, and any military movie is an immediate no from me, I can't tell who anyone is at all. Something like Bridgerton is fine though, where characters are 'coded' via colours of clothes etc.

Definitely identify with the panic people feel when meeting others in restaurants etc... Looking for people in crowded places makes me literally sweat with anxiety.

Interestingly, met a friend 'AB' in public recently and was looking around for her while standing at the agreed meeting place, when a strange lady walked up to me and said 'Hi Mona, it's me AB'... It was like her features literally rearranged themselves on her face as she came into focus as someone I knew. So weird.

I realised my DS had inherited it from me, when he was in preschool and asked me: “how do Amelia B and Amelia C’s mummies make sure they take the right Amelia home?” 😭

He gets v v nervous in crowds because he can’t find me. We’re quite a good team at parties now because we work it out together - “oh Jack’s wearing a Minecraft T-shirt today. Louis has got red trainers”

And I make endless notes in my phone (Jenny - mid-40s, shoulder length hair, interesting bag; David - grey hair, glasses, Northern accent)

Yes! I always read the synopsis on wikipedia before I watch it so that I have at least some chance of working out who's doing what.

That wouldn't work because I don't recognise faces. Not in person, not in a photograph.

I generally just tell people, and they will often prompt me if they sense vagueness. I get better the more interactions I have with an individual. Having said that, my cousin, who I have know all her life, dyed her hair a different colour once and I didn't recognise her until she spoke.

Omg I didn't know this was a thing until now and I have this! I regularly do this at work and it's super embarrassing!

I have this issue:

Failed to recognise own child when standing literally right next to them.
Unable to identify colleagues I've worked with for years.
Conversations with people when I have no idea who they are, but they clearly know me.

I rely on context, mannerisms, location, clothes, height, voice .... everything really other than faces!

Main tip acknowledge the issue and tell people - it's really hard for anyone to take offence once they are aware I don't always recognise my own child!!

I have this mildly too, like a pp I keep notes on my phone. “Grace- Josie’s mum - blonde bob and trendy coats” I find kids much harder to differentiate because they’ve got less distinguishing features, one little blonde girl in a pinafore looks exactly like the other 3 in her class!

One of my worst ones was my second date with my now-DH. I arrived at the pub we were meeting at, stood next to him, and texted him to ask him where he was! Fortunately he wasn’t too offended that I had no idea what he looked like

I don't have ASD or Autism. I don't have aphantasia in that I do imagine a world and characters when I read but faces are often not detailed or even blurry in my head.

I do have issues with my left and right though. I don't instantly know and have to think about it.

I've had face blindness my whole life though I didn't realise it till I saw Oliver Sachs on the telly and suddenly everything made sense. It should have been obvious though when you looked at my school friends, they all had the most outstanding features, the one with buck teeth, the one with the biggest nose, the tallest in the year, the shortest. People thought I was stuck up because I totally blanked them and I really wasn't being stuck up, everyone looked the same to me. Once I understood it was prosopagnosia I made it a habit to smile at everyone and when I go out I get smiled back at by complete randoms, or possibly my neighbours and acquaintances for all I know.

I've managed to walk right past my Dad and my daughter even when I am expecting to meet them. Ended up following after the completely wrong elderly gent at a stately home until I realised his camera bag was wrong. I used to hate having to visit Mum in hospital, how was I to pick her out of a roomful of old ladies in nighties? Ended up recognising her zimmer frame, you would not believe the varieties of zimmer frames, and thank goodness for that. Dad is also face blind, but it bothers him less as he's quite aloof anyway. I can usually pick out Dad from a distance by the way he walks, and the same for my brother.

Strategies for me include recognising shoes and handbags and phone cases as these things might be the same day to day. If someone wears glasses that helps, and if they have a dog then we are cooking with gas, I'm brilliant at recognising dogs. Generally I'm pretty observant, it's just faces that elude me.

I have this to a degree. I once failed to recognise DD when I met her unexpectedly. (I did think she looked nice though!)

I usually think I'm neurotypical (but she thinks she's ADD). However I'm generally very good with words and numbers and bad with images and knowing where I am.

I have tried asking leading questions, like 'Are you still at...?' Once I've known people a few months it usually settles down.

The responses here have given me so much to think about!
I also have trouble with left/right. I keep a hair band on my right wrist so I know. I also never thought of it running in families, but I remember mum picking me up from the train station once (after I'd moved away from home) and she thought I'd missed the train as she didn't recognise me. Had completely forgotten about that.

Watching with interest because I have it.

I worked with two men who I couldn’t tell apart. I’d study their photo’s on the staff board and could see they were different side by side but in person I had no idea who I was talking to. Like a previous poster I’ve chosen friends who stand out, all subconsciously. It is embarrassing and some people have been very offended. I didn’t realise until I got a job in a school and all the kids looked the same! I also try to focus on individual features.

I tend to recognise people by their gait, so I focus on that.

When I'm with dh and we meet someone out of context, he's pretty good at whispering who it is in my ear. With movies/series, both him and the dc will announce who people are at the start of each scene.

But it's definitely not getting better with age.

Oh my god me too. I'm a school teacher so this is especially bad.
My only strategy when out and about is to wear sunglasses whenever I can (eg when the weather means I don't look like a lunatic, eg snowing). Then I can properly have a look at people's faces and they don't know if I'm looking at them. It's a nightmare. I didn't know it was a real thing until last year - I thought it was just me.

Oh and I get lost everywhere too. I get lost in car parks. I rely on Google maps to get literally anywhere. I suspect it's connected. My son is ASD and ADHD, and I suspect I am too.

I have issues with analogue clocks - I can't just look at one and know the time, I especially have an issue if one is wrong. I do have a very good sense of time in my head, and if I see one that is wrong, rather than realising it is wrong I will puzzle over it trying to make the position of the hands match what's in my head, until the penny drops.

I have this. I’m good at recognising silhouettes, movements, mannerisms, clothing styles, accents. Hairstyles not so much, they change too often.
Often I think one person is multiple people, or that several people are just one person.
Once at school pick up I thought I was chatting to my friend, turned out it was a complete stranger whose kids were in a different class. But she must have just thought I was super friendly (if a bit over-familiar) - she always comes over to chat if she sees me now.

At work I write down a few details of people with their name. Out of work I just wing it and chat hoping to get a clue.

I so have this. Thankfully not as bad as some on here- once I've met someone for a substantial amount of time on 2 or 3 occasions, I'm usually OK.

But the getting tv characters mixed up if they look similar in any way, spending an eve with someone to not recognise them at all on our next meeting etc. It really is embarrassing and I do wonder how many people I've blanked inadvertently.

I'm not asd or aspergers (my husband has that and is not face blind in the slightest). I'm left handed, if that's of any interest to the puzzle of who gets this and why...

My people!

the other thing I also can’t do is work out what animal a cartoon might be or a caricature, or recognise that a stuffed toy is a cat or a hamster etc

Oh, amd awful at drawing or art that involves observation skills in any way.

If im asked to draw an animal, I can't picture it at all amd draw something a 4 year old would be ashamed of.

I'm brilliant at reading people tho. Personalities, relationships between people. Anyone else?

I did that at a wedding, complete stranger and somehow we ended up exchanging Christmas cards for about ten years.

that was meant as a reply to donstrenchcoatanddarkglasses