Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello all,
I seem to have a problem with facial recognition. For example, I might see someone in the street or in a shop who looks like someone I know. So I walk up to them and say hello (overriding my inclination to walk away and not engage with them at all), and then I realise that it isn't the person I thought it was. It's a complete stranger.
On the flipside, I may see someone that I know, the actual real person, but I don't register their face, particularly if I'm seeing them out of context, and I completely blank them.
Has anyone else experienced this? I know that prosopagnosia / face blindness is not uncommon among the autistic population. I have heard other autistic people mention similar stories to the second example - not recognising people you know - but not necessarily the first example, seeing someone who looks 'a bit' like someone you know, and then you either spend a long time wondering if it's them, perhaps watching them from across the street, or you actually go up to them and then discover, when they look at you blankly or speak in a different voice, that it's a total stranger.
This has happened to me a number of times. Normally it's a mildly amusing experience, if a little discombobulating.
Best wishes,
Matt
Hello Matt, welcome to the forum.
I have experienced most of the situations you are describing, as do the above posters, so there's certainly a lot of it about.
I am seventy years old and do wonder, in my case, if some of it is now age related. I'm sure some is, but if you're much younger then you can forget that.
Discombobulation, I'm afraid, is all too frequent with autism at any age; I am often bewildered by the words and actions of others.
Ben
And there I was thinking I'm all alone with this issue and it turns out I'm not! What a relief! I have particular difficulty if a person isn't where I would expect them to be and I've lost count of the times when I blank people. This week I've had a few people toot their car horns at me and wave. I wave back in a cheery "good to see you" kind of way. Then I look at my dog and ask "who the heck was that"?
I’ve had this happen on loads of occasions, I get the, “hello Roy, how are you?” My mind is saying, who are you? I can’t visualise the faces of my own sons, I don’t even know what colour their eyes are. On the other side, I can listen to a familiar or famous voice and know who it is.
Very common problem for me. People have approached me and started talking to me as if they know me and I have no idea who they are or where they know me from. It's very embarrassing. It's only later when I see them again in a familiar environment that I realise who they were.