Who does NOT have facial blindness?

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I'm not sure why, but sometimes I can see a face just a few times and remember it forever. Other times, I can see the same person over and over, and still not recognize them. There is a woman whose child goes to the same school as mine, and I really ought to recognize her, because I hired her to help me get through childbirth without freaking out (a doula). I was holding her hand and focusing on her eyes as I gave birth to my child. But I never recognize her. Where is the logic in that?

I haven't had any problems reading social cues, as well as social cues.

I am somewhat envious of those of you who can read facial expression, body langugage, or use vocal cues. That's the only part of my AS I'd really like to get rid of. I feel it holds me back in my career; I have real trouble understanding what other adults I don't know well are feeling or trying to say. One of the reasons I love working with kids is that they express how they feel, rather than expecting me to pick it up from how they are standing or something. If a kid is happy or angry, you know it; you aren't expected to pick it out by the angle or length of a smile or whatever it is that gives those clues. I would love to be able to read non-verbal clues but they go right over my head, and damn, but it is frustrating!

I did pretty good on the facial recognition test. I scored what an average NT would score ( according to the test). When there was a thread about it, a lot of people got around the exact same score so don't feel like an outsider.

I scored below the "average" range on the facial expression test, but not by much. In general I have a little trouble with facial expressions, but they aren't a total mystery to me.

And I'm VERY good at remembering faces I've seen when I run across the same people in the future, putting names and information to them, etc. Although also I do often see people who I think I recognize, when in fact it's not the person I think it is, so I guess I kind of have the problem in reverse

Yes, I think this has to do with a processing speed deficiency. It may, perhaps, be related to Sluggish Cognitive Tempo.

Although I did well on the (not timed) prosopagnosia test, I often have difficulty matching names to faces. I might recognize that I recognize it immediately, but sometimes it takes me a while to put a name to a face, whether they be an actor or 'real life' person.

There is some faces I know just by looking - I just can't tell the what the content of the facial expression is. Like I know mad, sad and happy, but I just can't tell what they are feeling about.

I also have poor memory of faces.

I am usually around other autistics and they're kids, too, so that makes them easy to read. They also say a lot of things in words and you wouldn't be missing out on anything if you didn't look at them. About 90% of the conversation is speech, here.

And this

I think it is impossible to know how someone is feeling or will feel. At least, rationally.

I overcame my face-blindness and body-language blindness, but it took me four decades.

ruveyn

It's not about rationally knowng it, it's intuitively knowing it - being able to recall the surroundings to know which action created said reaction.

I think i can read facial expressions. But i myself don't use facial expressions. I can't do it in the natural way. If i force my face to show some expression then i look weird.

...Coming to edit my mistakes - Actually i have some true expressions, the smile of course and i also have some kind of angry expression. My friend says that my angry face looks kind of scary. Evil perhaps

Last edited by skonamis on 21 Jan 2010, 11:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

"I don't remember names but I remember faces.."

I love Bugsy Malone! But, yeah- I'm awful with names but can remember a face, no problem. However, if someone I knew from childhood came up to me in their adult years, I would struggle to remember them. I suppose it depends on how young I was when I last saw them.

However, I still struggle with facial expressions (though I've improved, I have to say).

I do OK with facial expressions, and scored in the high typical range on that quiz. IRL, I don't know ... I clearly remember making a conscious decision many years ago that I would not try to read between the lines. It seems manipulative to me to expect people to guess at what you're thinking and feeling. So even if I think you seem upset, if you tell me everything's fine, I will act as if everything's fine.

"Is something wrong?"
"No"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm fine."
"Oh good, I was afraid you might be mad at me."
"Well of course I'm mad at you, you #$%^&*"

Passive-aggressive b.s. Gimme a break.

Actually, today I had a moment where I couldn't recognize this girl. I knew that I knew her, and I stared at her for a good 5 minutes before I realized she was an old dancer partner I worked with only a few months ago. I danced with this girl everyday for 2 weeks and couldn't recognize her face when I saw her again. I find this very interesting considering I never thought I had face blindness...

My boss, who I highly highly highly suspect has AS, is very face blind. He has employees who have worked for him for years, and still struggles with their names. We only have about 28 people in our company and when he is really excited, he'll look at someone he's know for 5 years and say, "What's your name?...Oh that's right Morgan's your name." People think it's because he's inconsiderate but I think it's because he's autistic.

As far as facial recognition goes, I have trouble remembering the face of someone I have not seen for more than six months, but I am really good with their names- who they are, what they do, etc. Conversely I sometimes forget the name of someone I see everyday but know who they are- just a total mindblank.

I am actually pretty good at reading emotional clues and body language between other people; I just have problems when they are directed at me. I even have problems with strong emotions at times; especially at work.

I don't have face blindness. The only reason why I walk right past people who I know is because I don't look at people as I walk in public. I'm slightly phobic of having strangers staring at me, which is why I don't look at them. But there is one problem with having your head down all the time not making eye contact with anyone, and that is obviously missing people who I know. Once when I went into work one morning I had a colleagues telling me, ''I saw you in the town yesterday and you walked straight past. Didn't you see me?'' And it makes me feel unfriendly. Maybe I should look up and observe the different people a bit more often, so that I could notice people a bit more.