prosopagnosia (face-blindness)
 

OK, this is a crazy long-shot, but two disorders run through the same branch of my family: autoimmune diseases, and prosopagnosia, which is face blindness. My mother has a medium case, I have a mild case, and my daughter has a severe case. We can see faces just fine--we just can't remember them, so we don't recognize people by how they look; we recognize them by how the walk and stand, by their voices, their mannerisms, their hairstyles. Moles and such are a huge bonus clue. My daughter has an eye for fashion, and sometimes only recognizes her friends by the kinds of clothes they wear. This condition causes lots of social embarrassment, as you can imagine. We're also not good at following movies, especially if two characters have short hair: we just can't tell them apart. Army movies are a comlete muddle--short hair and uniforms! Ack!

This is all to say: how many of my fellow MGers have trouble recognizing people you know? Wouldn't it be interesting if there were some connection?

Abby

This face blindness is something I haven't heard of. I can't imagine not being able to recognize faces. I don't have this at all and recognize faces even from as long ago as my childhood, it seems to be a strong point for me.

Just because I don't experience this doesn't mean there isn't a connection.

Well, now that I think of it, my question was even sillier than I thought. We do recognize faces somewhat, but usually by unusual features. I can't even picture my husband's face when I close my eyes, and I regularly have no idea who the person is in the supermarket who just gave me a hug. People need to wear name tags, or crazy hats, or get tattoos on their faces or something.

Abby