Prosopagnosia
I didn't see this one listed so I thought I would add it. I have had this since I was 16. It is commonly know. As face blindness. I can look at a face and see the difference in gender but that's about all. I can't look at a photo of someone without other features such as hair or body being seen and recognize who they are. Even with pictures of myself I can't identify them. This makes it hard to meet with friends at a coffee shop or bar because everyone is a stranger unless I have known you for awhile and can learn your voice, clothing style, hair style, and gait. It makes life pretty scary sometimes and frustrating for me and others. I don't know how many have this or if this even made sense. I just thought I would share.
@Allblacks23 I must say I have never heard of this. I bet it can be very frustrating. I would love to chat sometime.
I would love to chat sometime. It can be frustrating but more scary I think. It's hard to navigate life sometimes.
Hello. I also have the same condition. I didn't even know I had it for the longest time. I actually didn't even know how much better others were at differentiating between people before I started taking the tests that only show faces and I realized "wow. people all look the same without hair and stand-out features." I also realized that most of the people I naturally gravitated towards are very visually distinct, like with red curly hair or dyed hair or very tall in stature or very short in stature. Most people I know are very...something haha and perhaps that little bit of familiarity makes me gravitate to some more than others. When I talk to someone, leave, come back and not sure if the person i'm looking at is the same person I'd talked to that day or the day before it's really nerveracking to say the least since it could be the same person or it could be a lookalike. My friends think it's quite funny when I say someone looks like someone else because to others they never look alike.
The absolute worst of the worst thing that happens though is when someone comes up to me in a public place acting like they know me, and I have to either pretend like i know them and basically lie or confess that I can't tell if i've ever seen them before in my life and that I forget names after a few months after not using it. When I'm at college I'm constantly relying on the reaction of others to seeing me to tell if they know me and that therefore I must know them. I just wish more people knew what prosopagnosia was, or the term facial blindness. It'd make life so much easier not having to explain it, but even I didn't know what it was and I have it so I can't be mad or upset when others don't.
Though through talking to people about it i've actually found some people with similar experiences who might also have the condition. I've found, though, that the autistic community seems to be a lot more knowledgeable about it since they're more likely to have it than others since, for whatever reason, the two conditions are more likely to be present together. I personally don't have autism, but it's easier to find people to sympathize with in those types of communities, so that's nice.
I guess this is a really old post, though, and i'm not sure if you'll ever read it, but maybe you will, or maybe someone else will.
<3 <3 <3 hearts to anyone who cares to read this <3 <3 <3