Form of face blindness

[Redglitter]

Does anyone else have this & how do you manage it.

I dont have faceblindness in as much as I recognise family & friends but otherwise I struggle

I have no idea who people are at work. I cant differentiate between most of the men on my shift. Rather embarrassingly I started talking to who I thought was the guy I'd sat beside for the duration of my 10 hour shift - it wasn't him.

I have people on other shifts & departments at work pass me in the corridor & say hello (name) & honestly you could offer me £1 mill and I couldn't tell you who it was.

I spend half my life on wiki or imdb when I'm watching TV working out who's who

It's becoming more & more of a struggle

This is me! So many embarrassing moments. I don’t recognise people in real life that I’ve seen on teams meetings. Have had no idea who work colleagues are when I’ve seen them out of context. Can’t follow films or tv easily. Dread having to introduce people. When I tell people though no one seems to believe me that’s it’s a thing.

I don't have face blindness but when teaching identical twins in the same class, I find a feature that can link to their name. Eg, Lucy has a mole on the Left cheek.

@UnaOfStormhold that's a good idea about mentioning as a way of working aspect. I think if I ever worked in an office again, I might need to do the same. Just out of interest, were people ok with it or did you get any nastiness? I've worked for myself for years which has made this loads easier.

At least three of the Brad Pitts are in Oceans 12. It's very confusing.

Although not as bad as the Korean drama series I've just finished, set in the royal court in the early 19th century. Everyone has straight black hair- one style for men, one for women (married women get a gold hairpin instead of a ribbon). For.men there are 2 beards and 2 hats. There are official robes in different colours for each branch of the civil service, which helps - until there's a scene with them off duty.

You DO have face blindness. So just say that to people. "so sorry - I am have face blindness". It is horrible, I hate it, but nothing I can do about it, so just have to make the best of it.

My tip is look at people's shoes. Some people always wear the same ones for work, or have a small number of shoes they swap between. This can be easier to get to know than their face.- But don't give up on faces either!

Things to particularly make a note of in you mind, glasses, birth marks, earlobe shapes, hairlines, including of beards, these all help

I've just realised this is why I like the TV series Ghosts so much. Everyone looks very different and never changes clothes, so it's clear right from.the start who's who.

I just tell people that I have a problem so they don't get offended. I also warn them that I need to be caffeinated, so if I seem 'off' first thing I either haven't recognised them or I didn't have time for a coffee before I left home. Once I've had a lot of interaction with someone I can usually recognise them (at least 20 conversations IME). However a PP's comment about people changing their hair colour reminds me of the time that my cousin, who I have known all my life, dyed her hair and was meeting a group of us for lunch, I saw her walking up from at least 20 meters away right up to our group but didn't recognise her until she started to speak.

@Octopus45 people have invariably been lovely about it when I am upfront.

I do, especially seeing people out of context. When walking round the local area people (usually other mums from school) will say hi to me and I'll have no idea who they are. Worst was when I agreed to take the kids swimming with a good friend of mine, was running slightly late so met in the pool and just could not recognise her in a swimming costume (fortunately the kids recognised each other).

I struggle with faces and can never remember names, but also cant remember what i did yesterday and the details of what friends have spoken to me about. Strangely I can retain obscure facts and historical events. I think having found out about some of these things because of my ND kids that I have a working memory deficit and auditory processing disorder along with the Prosopagnosia. I can never hear the TV properly unless I have the subtitles on, in slightly busy environments I miss a lot of the conversation, I often hear things with a slight delay, so I'll be half way through asking for clarification or a question when I realise the person has already said what I'm asking for.

I actually do tend to make friends with people or seek out those who look sufficiently different that I can easily tell who they are. I'd never considered my behaviour in group situations from that angle before, but that's what I do when I can't tell who is who, talk to someone that stands out in a way that can't be mistaken. I really struggls with people in groups who look generally similar, like both white women with brown hair and average height. A woman I've known for several years recently died her hair and everytime I see her now I struggle to work out who she is. This in in environmental I expect to see her, like school and football, kids are friends and play in same sport team. My brain just can't compute and it's so frustrating.

I too have this problem. My tip is to see if there is something that you do find easy to remember. I find voices and accents easy to remember, so I focus on this. I have a good friend who is a dentist and he identifies people by their teeth

Nice to be in a thread with 'my people'!

This is mortifying for me and I've had many an embarrassing time.

Mine is related to memory, overall it's absolutely shockingly terrible (barely remember my childhood etc) but I have CPTSD so that's not uncommon. I just can't cope. If I have to meet a friend at a restaurant for example, I will always go so so so early so they have to approach me, rather than me having to approach them.

I found a test! I scored 78 (over 65 means you have prosopagnosia). Definitely less affected than some of you, but enough to be tricky.
https://www.troublewithfaces.org/test-yourself-1

I feel like I have this to some degree, but also a generally crap memory.
I'm ok with family but it takes me ages to recognise colleagues. Doesn't help that we wear uniforms and people come and go often.

Oh, and a lot of the women seem to change their hair on a weekly basis. The other week I came back to see a strange woman with a buzzcut sitting at a desk. I had no idea who it was until I noticed the wig sat next to her!
I mean....so so helpful!🙄

I have to say, people at work have become more understanding after I told them the true story about walking past my own mother in the street, because I wasn't expecting to see her there.

It's the ones in their 50's/60's who all look like Harold Shipman. Thousands of the buggers. Everywhere!

I have this to an extent and it's fascinating to read others' experiences. Once I know people well I am ok but that's no use on day 2 (or 10!) in a new job when man in grey jumper or man in blue tie changes appearance. Women are a bit easier because they have a wider variety of hair styles. Still hard though.

Even when I know people well, faces aren't what I look for. As a PP mentioned, I'll look for the table in a bar rather than the people. And I dress my own beloved DC in bright colours to make finding him easier. He has fluorescent football boots so I can tell who he is on the pitch.

It also makes watching films tricky. Again, men in particular all look the same. Independent cinema is better for casting more women and a wider range of appearances.

I'm another without a mind's eye. It's just not there. All my thoughts are words.

Oh, and more than once I have stood politely smiling and making chit chat while one of my parents had a conversation with a woman in the street only to discover later it was my childhood best friend who I had a falling out with aged about 17 but wouldn't dream of ignoring if I only recognised her!

I have this. I just accept it and apologise for being rude. I need male film characters to be like Guess Who, ie one has glasses, one a beard, one a hat… otherwise they all look the same to me.

I am ok with actual people after about 3 meetings, before that, I have no flipping clue if I’ve seen them before. When my kids were at (all boys, 99% white) secondary school, every child looked the same to me. Dark mousey hair, no distinguishing features. I include one of my own in that, although I could tell him apart from the others. Luckily, the other one has jet black hair.

I sometimes run training events and frankly, I’m lucky to have learned 2 names by the end of a 3 day course. I make them use name badges or plates.