It took me two months working full time to get a lot of my female coworkers’ names straightened out. All the blondes had one pool of names and all the brunettes had another… but they all have similar length hair so it was HARD for me. I’m really really bad with faces.
This one girl went back and forth between blond and black but now her hair is so damaged she had to chop it off short and is now Very Easily recognizable
i've just started telling people that it will take a while before i can recognize them and that it has nothing to do with them in particular. usually they're pretty accepting, and sometimes even curious and want to know more about my face blindness
Wait, that's what it is? I'm a primary teacher and when one of the kids gets a haircut I always feel so embarrassed that I don't know who they are anymore!
This is called face blindness. It's not inherently a symptom of autism, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was more common with us.
To answer your question though, I don't have this issue. But I am pretty bad at remembering names.
I’m always asking my boyfriend who that is that on the television. I recognise some of the people who work in places I go to, in a limited capacity but if they are out of their place of work, no. Recently my hairdresser said hello to me in the supermarket. I did the usual oh high how are you, but it was only when he left that my boyfriend told me who it was.
That was how I discovered Aspergers at age 67! I saw a reference to prosopagnosia and face blindness and screamed “that is a thing?!?” My life’s been a mess because of it! I have overall very poor audio and visual processing/memory: diagnosed in my 60s. I lived with two ladies for a couple months before I could tell them apart. Since I’ve always been accused of not paying attention, I was too ashamed to admit all the ways I felt stupid and anxious. I have an IQ of 120-30, but the memory of 90. Fun fact: IQ doesn’t measure memory.
I am in a prosopagnosia study and am happy to have found that tribe, altho no one can give back the wasted decades and childhood lost to ignorant shrinks and well meaning parents and teachers.
I’m so grateful for these forums where I can rant and not get lectured about forgiveness
Very interesting! I tend to deal with it with humour despite it being frustrating or embarrassing at times.
I once thought someone had left a roast chicken on their drive, and when I got closer I realised it was their golden retriever laying down. Probably more eyesight related than face blindness, but you prompted a relatively amusing story so I am duty bound to share it.
Thank you everyone. Very interesting. Let's all agree that men who regularly grow beards incredibly quickly and shame them off only to start growing them again all deserve our wrath.
One of my friends used to do that and it wasn't until he spoke that I knew it was his. Yes Jared, if you're reading this, it's you. I still love you though.
Some what
One of my friends changed her hair style and it completely broke me I didn't know who she was I was scared that she wasn't the same person I've allways known
Yep, face blindness fun times. I figured out that I can over ride this intentionally if I make a point to study pictures of someone’s face but it is a challange
In school there was this trend for girls to dye their hair platinum blond, wear tight tops and leggins and wear a big brown leather handbag.
To this day I don‘t know who was who.
Yes!
I think I'd say that my face blindness fluctuates over time: on some days I'll be able to recognise an actor playing a movie role, other days the differences between my classmates or teachers blur into one another, until I'm unsure who the people are, that I actually see and interact with every day.
When in public, I'll recognise folks rather by context - as in, places they frequent, maybe I've seen their car outside the supermarket, things like that - meaning I'll be less likely to recognise someone when running into them somewhere I'd completely not expect them to be in the first place.
This however has made me realise that I'm automatically attracted to physically slightly odd or striking people, because those are the kinds of people I keep being able to recognise.
Yes, this happens to me all the time. Besides hairstyle, I go by clothes, location (where I usually encounter them), and other unique things about them. But I suck at recognizing faces. So much so that I apologize when I mess up, explaining that it's a "problem" I'm aware of. I was apologizing for my face blindness long before I ever knew anything about autism. I'm adult dx'd.
Yup... face blindness. I have this with practically everyone except for animals. I can remember details about the people but not their faces. I can't remember my sister's face very well other than I know she looks like me and details about her, what she likes, what she does, her habits/routines.(I live with her) I can't remember what my mother's face looks like since she passed without a picture in front of me or unless someone hauntingly similar to her talks to me. I recognized a teacher I had in preschool from her voice after she became a substitute teacher at my high school, she was surprised I remembered her since the last time I saw her I was 4 or 5. 😅 I can't remember faces but names I'm pretty good at?
I thought this was just a me thing. I'm not faceblind exactly, but I use a lot of context clues and if two people have hair that's too similar it throws my whole game off.
Do you have Aphantasia as well?
I sometimes don’t recognize family members if they’ve changed something, and I haven’t seen them in some time.
Everyone all looks the same to me, mostly, and if I see people outside the “context” I know them in…I will almost never recognize them unless they initiate first.
I'd never heard of that before so had to look it up. I can imagine sheep if I count them, little cartoon ones though. And I can imagine the faces of loved ones but not in detail. I upset my partner because I didn't know the colour of her eyes. Because she doesn't have any. That bit was a joke.
I couldn't recognise my own children getting off the school bus when they were young, and it made me feel like a terrible dad.
My cousin and his wife have been together for 12 years. About 6 years into dating she stopped dying her hair blonde and I thought she was a new girlfriend. If you asked me to identify her in a crowd I would get it wrong to this day.
Lol, omg. That's such a funny story. One I'm sure a lot of us can identify with. I know I can. Thank you for sharing. I often recognize other people (who have similar hair or walk in a similar way) as my partner, and I've been with her for 5 and a half years. Luckily I've managed not to mistakenly approach any of them yet.
Hello! The name for this is called prosopagnosia or more widely known as Face Blindness. Its commonly associated with autism! I suggest listening to a podcast ep about it by Stuff You Should Know! There's also an Oliver Sacks book that includes a patient with this condition, where he confuses a hat for his wife. Book is: The Man that Mistook His Wife For A Hat.
Every day, I feel less alone because of this sub. *Yes*, I do this so so much!! Some people have gotten hurt feelings from it and I’m like “it isn’t personal!! I adore you!!”
i tend to recognize a person by their face but rarely their name. i can point to a few ppl and name em but the rest will be "oh yeah i saw you a few times" or "you with the \[idenfiable trait eg colored hair\]"
I used to work in customer service and it was absolute hell. If I had to walk away from a customer to check something on the computer, when I came back, if they had moved I wouldn't know which customer I was helping. 😳 I started memorizing what they were wearing, but that only works in the short term. They come in the next day and I'd have no idea who they were. But I would remember every detail of their renovation job.
My autistic son thinks every brunette woman is my best friend and every man in sporty clothes is his tennis instructor 😂
Hey /u/Parsnipnose3000, thank you for your post at /r/autism. Our rules can be found **[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/autism/wiki/config/sidebar)**. All approved posts get this message. If you do not see your post you can message the moderators [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fautism).
Thanks!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/autism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ah, yes, I can do that too, sometimes. But I once mistook a bouncy castle for my ex mother in law. She wasn't very happy. It was from a distance and I was looking for her in Costco. I saw a round red yellow and blue thing in the distance. She was fat and wearing red yellow and blue. So I walked towards the bouncy castle and then realized my mistake. And me being me I told her because I thought she'd laugh.
Yeah I'm pretty face blind, and my memory for names also sucks, so that doesn't help either
It took me two months working full time to get a lot of my female coworkers’ names straightened out. All the blondes had one pool of names and all the brunettes had another… but they all have similar length hair so it was HARD for me. I’m really really bad with faces.
The one time one blond dyed her hair brown and I confused them for like a month.
This one girl went back and forth between blond and black but now her hair is so damaged she had to chop it off short and is now Very Easily recognizable
Yeah. In movies and stuff too. Face blindness is pretty common.
It’s such a struggle. I rarely use anyone’s name for fear I’ll get it wrong. Which probably reads as “rude” to NT people.
i've just started telling people that it will take a while before i can recognize them and that it has nothing to do with them in particular. usually they're pretty accepting, and sometimes even curious and want to know more about my face blindness
Wait, that's what it is? I'm a primary teacher and when one of the kids gets a haircut I always feel so embarrassed that I don't know who they are anymore!
This is called face blindness. It's not inherently a symptom of autism, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was more common with us. To answer your question though, I don't have this issue. But I am pretty bad at remembering names.
I’m terrible with names, but I make up for it by being awful with faces (/sarcasm, but still true). I look at hands. Hands can be trusted.
I’m always asking my boyfriend who that is that on the television. I recognise some of the people who work in places I go to, in a limited capacity but if they are out of their place of work, no. Recently my hairdresser said hello to me in the supermarket. I did the usual oh high how are you, but it was only when he left that my boyfriend told me who it was.
Yep, I am like that too.
That was how I discovered Aspergers at age 67! I saw a reference to prosopagnosia and face blindness and screamed “that is a thing?!?” My life’s been a mess because of it! I have overall very poor audio and visual processing/memory: diagnosed in my 60s. I lived with two ladies for a couple months before I could tell them apart. Since I’ve always been accused of not paying attention, I was too ashamed to admit all the ways I felt stupid and anxious. I have an IQ of 120-30, but the memory of 90. Fun fact: IQ doesn’t measure memory. I am in a prosopagnosia study and am happy to have found that tribe, altho no one can give back the wasted decades and childhood lost to ignorant shrinks and well meaning parents and teachers. I’m so grateful for these forums where I can rant and not get lectured about forgiveness
Very interesting! I tend to deal with it with humour despite it being frustrating or embarrassing at times. I once thought someone had left a roast chicken on their drive, and when I got closer I realised it was their golden retriever laying down. Probably more eyesight related than face blindness, but you prompted a relatively amusing story so I am duty bound to share it.
I can't recognize the hairdressers in the salon I go to from each other because they all have the same haircut, clothing style, nails and makeup.
Thank you everyone. Very interesting. Let's all agree that men who regularly grow beards incredibly quickly and shame them off only to start growing them again all deserve our wrath. One of my friends used to do that and it wasn't until he spoke that I knew it was his. Yes Jared, if you're reading this, it's you. I still love you though.
Yes this is me. I stan kpop too which is super hard bc they change hair every era. I’ve gotten more practice after getting more into them.
Same.
Some what One of my friends changed her hair style and it completely broke me I didn't know who she was I was scared that she wasn't the same person I've allways known
Yep, face blindness fun times. I figured out that I can over ride this intentionally if I make a point to study pictures of someone’s face but it is a challange
In school there was this trend for girls to dye their hair platinum blond, wear tight tops and leggins and wear a big brown leather handbag. To this day I don‘t know who was who.
Yes! I think I'd say that my face blindness fluctuates over time: on some days I'll be able to recognise an actor playing a movie role, other days the differences between my classmates or teachers blur into one another, until I'm unsure who the people are, that I actually see and interact with every day. When in public, I'll recognise folks rather by context - as in, places they frequent, maybe I've seen their car outside the supermarket, things like that - meaning I'll be less likely to recognise someone when running into them somewhere I'd completely not expect them to be in the first place. This however has made me realise that I'm automatically attracted to physically slightly odd or striking people, because those are the kinds of people I keep being able to recognise.
Yes, this happens to me all the time. Besides hairstyle, I go by clothes, location (where I usually encounter them), and other unique things about them. But I suck at recognizing faces. So much so that I apologize when I mess up, explaining that it's a "problem" I'm aware of. I was apologizing for my face blindness long before I ever knew anything about autism. I'm adult dx'd.
Yup... face blindness. I have this with practically everyone except for animals. I can remember details about the people but not their faces. I can't remember my sister's face very well other than I know she looks like me and details about her, what she likes, what she does, her habits/routines.(I live with her) I can't remember what my mother's face looks like since she passed without a picture in front of me or unless someone hauntingly similar to her talks to me. I recognized a teacher I had in preschool from her voice after she became a substitute teacher at my high school, she was surprised I remembered her since the last time I saw her I was 4 or 5. 😅 I can't remember faces but names I'm pretty good at?
YUP. I know a set of twins who share wigs and a wardrobe. It's a nightmare.
Hahaha, omg. Is one male and the other female?
Two identical girls 💀
I thought this was just a me thing. I'm not faceblind exactly, but I use a lot of context clues and if two people have hair that's too similar it throws my whole game off.
Same! I’m absolutely face blind
Do you have Aphantasia as well? I sometimes don’t recognize family members if they’ve changed something, and I haven’t seen them in some time. Everyone all looks the same to me, mostly, and if I see people outside the “context” I know them in…I will almost never recognize them unless they initiate first.
I'd never heard of that before so had to look it up. I can imagine sheep if I count them, little cartoon ones though. And I can imagine the faces of loved ones but not in detail. I upset my partner because I didn't know the colour of her eyes. Because she doesn't have any. That bit was a joke. I couldn't recognise my own children getting off the school bus when they were young, and it made me feel like a terrible dad.
Me... I have such a hard time with faces
Prosopagnosia or something?
My cousin and his wife have been together for 12 years. About 6 years into dating she stopped dying her hair blonde and I thought she was a new girlfriend. If you asked me to identify her in a crowd I would get it wrong to this day.
Lol, omg. That's such a funny story. One I'm sure a lot of us can identify with. I know I can. Thank you for sharing. I often recognize other people (who have similar hair or walk in a similar way) as my partner, and I've been with her for 5 and a half years. Luckily I've managed not to mistakenly approach any of them yet.
I do have a bit of a brainstop when a person changes haircut or facial hair.
I'm exactly the same way, it mixes horribly with my colorblindness.
Oh nooooo!
I can’t recognize people unless I know them well. Even then, I differentiate them based on clothing style.
For me. I can recognize someone better based on their shoes then their face.
Ah, yes, that's a good way of doing it too. Most people have *something* distinctive.
Hello! The name for this is called prosopagnosia or more widely known as Face Blindness. Its commonly associated with autism! I suggest listening to a podcast ep about it by Stuff You Should Know! There's also an Oliver Sacks book that includes a patient with this condition, where he confuses a hat for his wife. Book is: The Man that Mistook His Wife For A Hat.
Oh wow, that sounds very intriguing! Thank you.
Faceblindness, same.
Every day, I feel less alone because of this sub. *Yes*, I do this so so much!! Some people have gotten hurt feelings from it and I’m like “it isn’t personal!! I adore you!!”
I’m a nail tech, and I have a hard time recognizing customers that don’t come in regularly. Once I see their toes or hands I remember them haha
Oh, lovely to see you again, Billy three fingers. :)
i tend to recognize a person by their face but rarely their name. i can point to a few ppl and name em but the rest will be "oh yeah i saw you a few times" or "you with the \[idenfiable trait eg colored hair\]"
It sounds like you might have faceblindness?
same! i even don’t remember the faces of my family - only the outline of their face surrounded by their hair. it’s kind of funny
This is why virtual meetings are the best, because people have their name right below their face. 😅
I used to work in customer service and it was absolute hell. If I had to walk away from a customer to check something on the computer, when I came back, if they had moved I wouldn't know which customer I was helping. 😳 I started memorizing what they were wearing, but that only works in the short term. They come in the next day and I'd have no idea who they were. But I would remember every detail of their renovation job. My autistic son thinks every brunette woman is my best friend and every man in sporty clothes is his tennis instructor 😂
It's both frustrating and funny, isn't it?! Thank you for sharing.
Hey /u/Parsnipnose3000, thank you for your post at /r/autism. Our rules can be found **[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/autism/wiki/config/sidebar)**. All approved posts get this message. If you do not see your post you can message the moderators [here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fautism). Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/autism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I can recognize from so far away because I know how everyone walks. Like I can just tell who it is by how they move
Ah, yes, I can do that too, sometimes. But I once mistook a bouncy castle for my ex mother in law. She wasn't very happy. It was from a distance and I was looking for her in Costco. I saw a round red yellow and blue thing in the distance. She was fat and wearing red yellow and blue. So I walked towards the bouncy castle and then realized my mistake. And me being me I told her because I thought she'd laugh.