To be so embarrassed and feel tired of being the way I am?

[VioletBam]

I've always had difficulties recognising people and have also always had problems with getting lost.

I can't recognise people that I know. Recently I discovered this condition was "an actual thing" called prosopagnosia. Most people call it Face Blindness.

I am not VERY bad with it...I know my own family for instance. But if I see for example...one of my children's teachers outside the confines of their classroom, then I won't know them from Adam.

All my life I have had situations where people would just start talking to me...and I'd have no idea who they were.

Sometimes they'd say things like "Don't you know me?" or "It's X! From Y!" and get annoyed.

Well it's just happened again. I'm in Australia and it's day here. I was walking down a street which is long and eventually leads to my own. There had been a procession in the village...and DD and I were returning.

A woman was walking behind us...she smiled and caught up with DD and I and said "Do you take the short cut or go the long way?"

And I looked blankly at her and said "I usually go the long way or I get lost...but how do you know where I'm going?"

Then DD said "Mum! It's Emily's Mum!"

Emily is DD's friend...she lives on our street...three doors up. I have this woman's number...she has been round to my house to collect her DD. I've met her husband. I've met this woman about 30 times since we moved in a year ago.

I decided to be open and said "I have face blindness" and she just laughed and carried on chatting.

Does she now think I'm a weirdo or rude?

It's happened SO often. I also get lost all the time. And can't recognise our car or the cars of other people I should do.

I'm sick of it!

Sorry, instantly thought of Finding Dory ( just been to see it today, brilliant film with lovely, moving parts in it), you poor thing it must be awful, funnily enough Joe Swash was talking about this on Loose Women today, he cant remember people very well, although different to what you have.
Hope there will bwcome something available to help you. You shouldnt be embarressed, I think if you explain to people what you have they will be understanding and maybe you can have a giggle about it.

I have the face blindness, but am a super-recogniser of places/directions. I have also always been a big reader/hyperlexic, so I'm very curious about the theory that reading can take up that space in the brain!

Like others, I'm sort of forced to be friendly and always say "nice to see you" rather than "nice to meet you" just in case a
stranger is someone I actually know. I'm pretty good with voices, and can far more reliably ID a voice rather than a face. Have no interest in reality TV/sleb culture/soaps etc as it just seems like an infinite number of people. Also bus drivers/cashiers/etc also seem like an infinite set of people, but I probably see the same ones all of the time.

It's just really disabling, isn't it. I could never be a teacher or someone expected to recognise people. It's hard to make friends, especially in situations where one meets a lot of new people at once. It's a lovely feeling when I've settled into a job/village and can recognise a core group of people - from that foundation I can usually work it out when I've met someone new. But until then it's like I'm just plucking random people out of the sea and then throwing them back, never to be seen again.
I once had a long interesting conversation with someone next to me at a dinner party, and then introduced myself to her the next day when I saw her at a different event. She was incredulous that I didn't recognise her, but I'd only met her once! I'd never recognise her again.
I've noticed, oddly, that I can recognise a lot of DS's friends whom I've seen since they were small, even if I recognise their parents less reliably (if at all).
It's fascinating stuff but I wish there was a cure. I'd love to be a super-recogniser -- can't see much downside to that!
What I find annoying is when some people assume that I'm not trying hard enough or not paying attention to faces. NO, I just seem physically unable to remember them. I have participated in some testing with a researcher of the condition, and I don't know if its possible to be officially diagnose, but certainly those of us who have it are in no doubt whatsoever that we have it!!

One of the hardest situations is attending a social group/ club that meets only monthly or less frequently. The chances of my learning to recognise anyone on that basis are virtually nil. At least having a name for it helps and I'm finding more people have heard of the condition and find it interesting. Can have a great conversation with someone and then explain I'm unlikely to recognise them next time and not to think I'm blanking them.

Does anyone else hate pub quiz picture rounds? I couldn't understand why anyone would do that for fun, until i realised that not everyone was faceblind like me.

I think I have this. I read very early, and I read very fast, though only typed text- I have a lot more trouble with anything handwritten, especially in cursive. You do NOT want to rely on my sense of direction for anything.

I have social anxiety, so I'm afraid to tell people I have this.

I generally prefer animated movies and TV shows, because it's too hard for me to tell who's who in other movies. Especially black and white movies where all the men wear suits. I almost never recognize actors from one movie in another one, unless they're VERY distinctive looking (Patrick Stewart not wearing a wig, for example).

I'm another big reader with excellent word sense but mild prosopagnosia. Can you others remember what people are wearing when they leave the room? I haven't a clue. A colleague once described what 10 women in the office were wearing, and all I could come up with was 'I think Jackie's got a blue top'. Is it related? All about not remembering visual details. But if there's one typo on a menu I've spotted it in seconds!

I have this problem not as bad. In fact I am more likely to remember how some one walks than what they look like. I can normally place people after a couple of minutes though.

I recall a story about some one important who had a problem remembering people and would use a routine of asking how they were and what their father was up to (as if he knew their family well).

It worked fine until he met one young man who replied he was very well thank you and his father was still the king...

geekymommy I have social anxiety too and I think it's possible it's caused by this, because of all the awkward situations and confusion it brings

I too have this.
Recently I have:
Not recognised my neighbour when she sat next to me at an eve class

Not recognised another neighbour when she saw me in a car park and started asking how my dad was

Told a member of another team it was nice to meet her, she looked at me incredulously before telling me I had known her 10 years!

Spoken to a member of staff for 5 minutes about some work she had done, she looked at me blankly, well she would as it was the wrong member of staff and she had no idea what I was talking about.

I often don't recognise some members of staff when they come into the office where I work . I usually try and wait for someone to speak to them first

I have found that it has been easier since I've been upfront about it and explained. My life would be easier though if everybody wore name badges with a brief description of where I might know them from.

I can't remember what people wear either. Although I don't think I notice what they're wearing to start off. I had put that down to being an introvert; I think I focus on the conversation so much that I don't notice anything else.

I also usually spot typos easily. I'm fine with text and reading, just not with people! Although I forget book plots and endings as soon as I've finished a book and sometimes can't even remember whether I've read a book before.

If people that I don't struggle to recognise (ie a close family member or friend) change their appearance then I rarely notice. Someone close to me went from blonde to brunette and I didn't notice! Also, I hate it when people ask if I think they've lost weight as even when they've (apparently) lost a lot of weight it's not obvious to me or something that I notice.

Regarding directions, I don't have data on my phone so I normally look up the route in advance and write a step by step guide to getting there, i.e. turn right at this road, turn right etc as I find it easier! I had to visit somewhere I didn't know well monthly for two years and I had to follow my written instructions every time up until the end (I don't drive)!

I have this. I've always been a big reader so interesting to know they might be related.

I didn't recognise my own daughter when she had her hair crimped at the school fete recently. I actually had a conversation with her without realising.

Bizarrely I did a work course recently which covered learning types and I turned out to be 9/10 visual, except for face recognition, and 1/10 audio, except for recognising voices. Everyone else had a nice mix of both. So there's no point telling me anything, and I don't recognise faces. Great.

Not sure if I've honed the vocal recognition to make up for the lack of face recognition, or if the vocal recognition would have been bad too but I spend a lot of time on audio conferences and in meetings with people with all different languages and accents, where I have to listen intently, and often can only identify the speaker on an audio conference by their voice.

"I'm another big reader with excellent word sense but mild prosopagnosia. "

Me too! Well, I don't have actual prosopagnosia, I am just on the crap end of normal. I'm not interested in clothes so find it really hard to remember what people are wearing.

I am pretty good with names, but for some reason "I always remember faces but I'm crap with names" is more socially acceptable than "I always remember names but I'm crap with faces". I think people feel that their face is them, somehow, so feel irrationally rejected when you don't remember it. Even if you do remember that amusing anecdote they told about their childhood or whatever.

Someone asked about synaesthesia: I am also a writer (and bad musician). Phrases feel like music to me, with the wrong word, musically, in a phrase, feeling like that physical twinge you get with a wrong or out of tune note.

Words and phrases also feel to me like lumpy sand, and I change the words until I get a sentence that feels like even grains of sand running through my fingers.

But I once did a syn. test and seem to remember I didn't score all that highly.

As l said earlier lm a super recognised and have been an avid reader for decades. I spent most of my childhood reading. My dsis has that thing about clothes. She could probably state exactly what each person at a wedding was wearing and if she came to your house after a 10 year absence she would notice if you had moved one bit of furniture. Funnily enough she was not that academic in school and got barely average marks so it's difficult to know where that particular ability comes from.
Someone just said they could see no disadvantage in being a super recognised but if l was introduced to you l have to pretend l don't know you or anything about you. When in actual fact l met you ten years ago at a mums meeting and remember every thing you said, all about your children, family etc. How freaked would you be if l let that slip so l have to be super careful.

I was an early reader and read fast too.

Me too will.

EU OP here...and me too! I'm a writer and I have always had a strong physical reaction to certain combinations of letters. Some give me a lot of pleasure and others repel me.

Oh God this is me. As I work with children it can get very embarrassing not to recognise parents out of context, eg the supermarket, and I have become super skilled at the art of navigating conversations to assess who people are and how I know them. (Make them say their child's name!) I once told someone ' yes I'm working at xxx now' in a desperate attempt to work out who they were, she replied, yes so do I...
Horribly embarrassing and a bit shameful to have this, its like you're saying to people they're so insignificant you can't be bothered to remember them.
I have it with children, can't even see my own in a heaving classroom... And if I see my older kids in town my initial thought is 'ooh that man looks like my son, oh it is my son'

Recently went to a wedding. The only person I recognised straight off was the bride but only because of the dress and veil!

I'm only middling face blind ie no trouble with family and friends of long standing but that's about it. However, also have great difficulty conjuring up familiar faces in my minds eye. DD and DGD's faces are quite faint and blurry like a faded photo. Some others have virtually no features and though I recognise them when I see them, each time there is a sort-of shock of recognition because they don't look quite like I thought they did. Does that make sense to anyone? Met a school friend after 30 years and I now have absolutely no idea what she now looks like though I can recollect what she looked like at 14 because I saw her everyday then.
An early memory is looking at people's faces still do it a lot so must have subconsciously realised it was a problem for me even then and needed to try to memorise features (not that it helped much!) Would be useless in an identity parade though do remember what people say.
In dreams I don't see faces at all -- I just "know" who is there in my dream.
Interestingly I too am very adept with the English language -- great reader from early age, natural ability with spelling and grammar etc and got degrees and worked in professions where this was an asset. The synaesthesia means I see letters, words, numbers as coloured and textured.
The real downside of prospagnosia has been social -- never comfortable in social settings etc
No need for the newspapers to pixelate faces on my account!

Such a relief to read this! I am not as bad as some here but I do struggle in many situations. I only found out about it a few years ago and my children are used now to prompting me at parents eve ('Emily's mum!'). Many here say they are readers, which I am too, but I can never visualise a character from a description, and although I've listened to The Archers for thirty years, I have no images of them in my mind either... is anyone else like that? I can do voices though which is often how i identify people in films.

Violet. Ditto re letters/words.
Also hate words such as Slough -- place name and snake skin which has a most unpleasant colour as well.
Have lately become distressed (out of proportion, I know) at the disappearance of the present participle eg stood instead of standing, sat instead of sitting. Sounds flat and uncouth somehow though OK in the right context.

Just had a thought.
Wonder how many poor old dears in their declining years have been diagnosed as having dementia because they are unable to recognise their nearest and dearest?

Yes Benedikte to the 'I was sitting', not 'I was sat', which makes me grit my teeth so as not to correct grammar like a twat.
I am also very spelling/ word persnickety, but crap at faces, and I also get textures and colours with words.

Anyone who has difficulty remembering routes do not go to Milton Keynes. Most people seem to have difficulty finding their way, at least when it is new to them. Me, I never learn and need a sat/nav. Before I got my little GPS companion it was a nightmare and after setting out in good time had still not arrived at a meeting before it ended. Had many anguished phone calls to no available!