Doesn’t she look familiar?

A good number of Auties have Prosopagnosia. Funny word that’s hard to pronounce. But it’s a very real thing. The less tongue tied people simply call it face blindness. It basically means that you have a hard time recognizing people’s faces. This is one of the seemingly many ways we accidentally offend people. Because when we don’t remember someone, they take it as a big slight. And that can lead to more communication issues. Don’t you just love those?! *sarcasm*

Have I ever had face blindness? I think I have. It happens often enough, but not all the time. Is there such a thing as occasional prosopagnosia?

Do you:

hate mirrors? Partially because it’s like you’re looking at a different person each time you look at the thing.

not recognize people outside of your usual environment. Like you go to school together, but you wouldn’t immediately recognize them at a party. Or you always eat at a certain restaurant but you don’t see them anyplace else? Or o

this isn’t face blindness, but do you have trouble recognizing voices too? Literally, I mix up my brothers’ voices. They sound almost the same to me at times. But they are not, really.

if it’s 5:00 in the morning, and you don’t know who is standing in your doorway then. And after a few moments of blinking, you realize that it’s your mom, asking for your phone again.

can you have occasional Prosopagnosia?

have to ask questions in order to know if the person encountering you on the street is really who they say they are?

and they confirm it, you feel a little bit guilty for not recognizing them earlier?

or you see someone who you think is a loved one only to see that they’re not. More embarrassment ensues.

Celebrities on the Internet sometimes look and act the same. You don’t know who’s who.

Just so you know, you can have face blindness without being autistic and vice versa.

……and so on and so forth.

So…any tips?

You can use other identifying markers. Examples are clothes, hair styles, jewelry, the way they stand etc. Found this tip on musingsofanaspie.com.

Like I said earlier, you can ask the person questions that only they and you know the answers to. It is mildly embarrassing, but it’s worth trying.

If you have any tips, let me know. See you next week!