Not face blind

Post Reply New Topic

I'm actually getting better with this. I've noticed that, recently, if I see someone a few times, I'll remember their face fine, though I still seem to have trouble remembering names and I doubt I could remember the face of someone I just met, so I'm probably still not as good as most NTs.

I don't know about that, but the other way round is possible, (being NT and have faceblindness). Loads of NTs I know have told me (out of smalltalk) that they've often walked passed someone they knew and have been tapped on the shoulder and asked why they were ignoring them. So I'm not always alone there!

But I've given myself faceblindness because I don't like staring at people as I pass them - especially teenagers and young adults in their early 20s. Once these 2 lads of 16 walked by, and I didn't like to look at them because you know how 16 year old boys get like when an older girl stares at them - and as I walked past one of them stopped and said, ''hello''. I reckognised the voice and turned round - only to notice it was my 16 year old cousin, with his mate. I smiled and said hello back, then had to apologize for not noticing them. I felt embarrassed and unfriendly. I should look at people more - then I will notice them on cue. It's not that I don't reckognise them - it's because I don't look at them.

I'm definitely face blind. The other day, a woman came up to me, and said something like: "We met yesterday" and I couldn't recognize her at all.

I have face-blindness, unless I know someone really well or something about their physical appearance stands out, I probably won't recognize them from plave to place. I am actually more likely to recognize someone for their voice or clothing than for their face.

I'm real good with faces for the most part, and pretty good with names, I can not see people for years, but rememeber their face, even if I can't get their names.

Im similiar. Good with faces. Bad with names.
Years ago I worked in a store with alot of turnover in personel.
I got into conversation with some guy about someone who used to work there, and began to describe her as "I think her name was such and such....she looked lked this.. acted like that.."

The guy then screamed at me "IM NOT STUPID, I KNOW WHO SUCH AND SUCH IS"!

He was insecure neurotic peckerhead who didnt realize that I was overdescribing the person for MY benifit not his- I was seeking assurance from him that I had the right face matched with the right name."

My Aspie friend is very good at recognizing faces, so it's possible. I myself am perpetually face-blind. I took a test online and got 57% (poor) on it... the whole thing was a blur to me.

For me, face blindness (prosopagnosia) is one of the most miserable of my social ineptitudes. Rarely can I remember a face, and even then it must be something highly unique or traumatic that makes it possible for me.

I had to explain to the students in the classes I taught, that they should not take it as an insult if I could not put a name with their face. I also pointed out that my ability to remember their face would be dependent on the venue in which I encountered them. So even after I got to where I knew them in class, if I met them at the local Wal-Mart, it might take me 15 minutes to figure out who they were.

I explained that I had to develop a background of information about them before I would be able to recognize them. And the more unique they were the sooner I would remember them. So for instance since the engineering classes had so few women I would probably learn their names faster. Also I would tend to remember the outstanding students sooner than the average ones, but that they should not let that go to their heads, because outstandingly bad worked just as well as outstandngly good.

For reasons that I do not clearly understand, there were always a few students who I developed an instant rapport with and I could usually count on remembering their names.

I became known for the fact that in each class each semester I would take a class photograph in the first few days and have the students write the name by which they wished to be addressed on it. I then put those names into the photograph and placed copies on the wall by my desk and also on outside of my office door. It was at least a little rewarding when I occasionally found other faculty consulting the pictures on my door, but they only needed to do so occasionally, I had to do it all semester. The only good side I could offer the students was that most of the time they could rest assured that I was grading the papers anonymously and not showing favoritism.

But the most I could hope for was maybe being able to recognize 20% of the class (size 7 to 35 students).by the end of the semester, and I would have the same students the next semester.

Alas, I have become the often embarrassed master of the art of "hey you". It causes me great grief.