Autistic Face Blindness (Prosopagnosia)... Autism

I sometimes walk past people I know without even realising, can't recognise myself in photos & mistake people for someone else. Prosopagnosia (face blindness) is surprisingly common in autistic people.
#EngageAutism #AskingAutistics #ActuallyAutistic

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[mrshadenoughofallthis]

My son has this. Fascinating.I used to be baffled when he would walk past people he knew from school completely oblivious. But out of uniform and out of context he has zero recognition.

[strawsofftheneurodivergent]

also, if you DON'T expect to see somebody in a different environment, then you just don't see them. Happened to me over and over - I walk right past my boss or neighbour, even though I know how they look like.

[sysye]

In my case I even have difficulty recognising my own face, i don't know if any of my fellow autistics have experienced the same. I once came across a picture of me with some friends on social media that I didn't remember taking, my thought was "uau that girl looks like me", it took me some minutes to realise it was actually me!

[Lordshittalot]

Whenever people asked me why i ignored them i would say something along the line with "i wasnt wearing my glasses"
I cannot recognize actors, friends or my other family members, and it makes me look dumb. I fear the day someone tells me to verify who is who. Thanks for covering this, very informative

[RobertGotschall-yf]

I lost my mom at a traditional music festival once. She was standing in front of me in a crowd of women her age. I didn’t see her until she coughed and she suddenly appeared.

[yuriyoung]

At college, people would come up to me outside of class and start talking to me that I couldn’t remember at all. I got really good at being friendly with random (to me) people and greeting them without using names and making really general conversation that would be pretty safe so hopefully they couldn’t tell I didn’t know who they were. I always felt bad about it, like maybe I was too arrogant to bother remembering people, but now I know why. Interestingly, I’m pretty good at voices, and I can often “recognize” actors before my husband, who is good at faces. Great video as always!

[Theleaddog]

So I am sitting with someone I don’t know but am fascinated by her. She IS me! I have this exact issue, just learning that I may be on the spectrum also. The weird thing is that I also have Aphantasia (mind blindness) and mirror-touch synesthesia of an emotional and deeply feeling sensation where i can feel everything the person feels regarding emotions. I don’t feel touch that they feel all of the time but the emotions are deeply felt within me. I have mind blindness, inability to recognize faces and so much more. I just learned this about myself Thursday night and have since learned about the possibility that I may also be on the Autism spectrum. My goodness. I am really good to like figuring myself out so i can navigate my own world so much better. I am so glad to have learned this about myself. Now I can communicate how I think and develop strategies to help me navigate more successfully. I also know why i felt differently than others and I never felt connected to others. I just found my place in this world and a purpose for being!!!

[elzabethmcarthur]

So many embarrassing interactions. I've ran up to randoms and started talking to them thinking they where an aunt, I've not recognised long standing friends who have had their hair changed, and started asking after them when they were right there. I've been called ignorant often, but just so many cringe memories around this. It's to know it is a thing, has a name, for the longest time I thought I was just stupid.

[Cyanmoon]

Context is EVERYTHING for me! It is so validating to hear you describe how common this is.

[linden]

My experiences are the same. Context, hairstyle and clothing seem to make a big difference. I'm not great at remembering names either. I've been told I've blanked on people in public a lot. I tend to go around in my own little bubble (attention tunnel) too. I've walked past very recognisable famous people and not noticed and those with me have been incredulous I didn't see them.

I think the idea of a preemptive discussion is a good one. Often people are not receptive to an explanation after they've made up their mind you were just being rude or deliberately shunning them.

[Catjuggler]

I'm autistic. I was diagnosed when i was 32. I have prosopagnosia. Also, I'm from a multicultural background, some of whom aren't white. When I'm around certain family or certain circles, I don't really have a problem. Even if I haven't seen that person in years, I'm good at recognising voices. I could be at work and have some friends or relative of any color come in, and because I don't associate them with them been at work, I won't recognise them. It's not a white or black thing, I'll just struggle recognising them because I don't associate them with been in that environment. There's been plenty of times I've been on shift, and because the one other white guy on shift clocked out and another one started, I've called the white guy who just started by the other white guys name because I didn't know the other white guy clocked out. I've done the same with black managers and employees. As a white guy, i know it doesn't look good if you dont know me 😂
A relative once hired a white cousin to decorate the living room. When I came home and saw him, I was just casually talking to him, but at the back of mind it was driving me crazy that I knew I knew him from somewhere. I went in the next room to ask a relative who that person was. It was a cousin I grew up with but haven't seen in years.
I bumped into a white friend a few weeks back. Until I started highschool, she was my best friend until i moved. I've known her since primary school. We grew up together. I've bumped into her as an adult numerous times and recognised her. I can only recognise her because she's as tall as and i6ft3. I just know statistically, it's very unlikely that I'll be bumping into a local woman same height and age as me, and whose slim and has dark hair etc. 😂
I've walked up to random women in the street assuming that they're a sister 😂

[HarrisonsGX]

I remember having this as a kid: I'd recognise people by their size, shape, clothing, hairstyles or voices (I remember losing my Mum when shopping because I ended up following a different woman with similar coat and hair). But I seem to have learned a different way of recognising faces, and it's a method which seems to be better than the ordinary way: when watching films or tv, I always recognise people from different things we've watched, even if they're in different costume, with different hair, makeup etc. My wife is regularly astonished by this skill!

[robertgreenall]

I was once many years ago staying in a small town with a woman I didn't know very well. One morning we went our separate ways and I ended up at some kind of public festival in the town centre. I saw some friends of hers there that I recognised and we had a brief conversation. I thought no more about it, and when I went back to her place in the evening she seemed offended. "Why did you ignore me today?" she said. I asked her what she meant - it turned out she had actually been with her friends when I spoke to them and I'd completely failed to notice her!

[AutismByAutistics]

Thank you for covering this. My 23 year old son got a new hair cut then flew home into the airport but I couldn’t recognize him with the new hair do. Broke my heart & hurt his feelings as well.

[Bobasketches]

I only got diagnosed with autism at 28 and I had no idea this was related to it! Even before my diagnosis I suspected I was face blind. I would walk past people I knew already many times, but I’d also mistake people for other people all the time. Like my eye sight is perfect, but even from a short distance away I’d wave and say “hey John” and then “John” would look so confused or assume I was talking to someone behind them haha. People would come up to me all the time as if they knew me so I just went along with it. But the funny thing is, art is my special interest and I love doing portraits lol

[thesincitymama]

My husband and I met Drew Barrymore in Vail, Colorado during the off-season. We spoke with her briefly, and she was very nice. There was a pretty pink and blue butterfly clip above her left ear. Even though I’ve been obsessed with her since 1983, I didn’t recognize her at all. She’s the only celebrity that I would ever want to meet, if I could choose one… and it actually happened! However… it was only after we parted ways, that my husband told me - that was Drew Barrymore! A nearby shop keeper confirmed that it really was her. How stunning! This is my most extreme example of the consequences of face blindness, in my life.

[clairej]

I just found your channel and I'm 100% sure mu busband and my daughter have face blindness. I didn't know it had a name but to differing degrees each has had similar experiences to yours. I just shared the link with them both. I have been making face cheatsheets for my daughter's teachers and names for years to help her remember them. More than a dew times, my husband and I will be out shopping or having dinner and one of his colleagues will stop and ask how we're doing. When they leave, he immediately turns to me, asking who they were.

[AgentX]

I feel you on this one; when my son was in primary school I bought him a bright orange coat so I'd know which one was mine 😅 all the boys looked too similar in their uniform with similar hair.

I wasn't diagnosed until 28 and had no idea I was face blind up until then, I assumed everyone struggled when someone changed their look 😂 others can assume you're snobbing them though or pretending not to know them and gets you into trouble at times 💯😅

[pzeller]

As a person with Aspergers, I'm plagued with this. I DJ weddings, and I have to take copious notes of a person's features. For example, once the bride changes out of her dress at a reception, I'm hopeless at recognizing her without notes.

As an experiment, I've also tried a game of looking at people's pictures, trying to match pictures of the same person together. In absense of unique tatoos, clothing, hairstyles (in other words, with only faces), I can stare intently at two pictures and cannot tell if the two pictures are of the same person. My daughter is able to tell in an instant, but it's a complete mystery to me.

[joannedixon-jackson]

I struggle with this a lot and I hate it. I wish I could remember people were, particularly if I’ve not seen them for years, or even if it’s someone I know but I see them out of their usual context. My brain is desperately trying to remember what their name is and where I know them from - school, college, uni, bands or choirs I used to be in, old jobs, etc… I especially hate it if family are with me when this happens as I can’t remember who the person is but they usually remember me, and my family should be used to it by now that I can’t remember, but they still make too much of a deal about it.