I've come to realize recently that a good deal of people don't think face blindness (prosopagnosia) is a real thing. I've had several situations where I've been honest with co-workers that I couldn't find them at work because of this disability One said "oh I thought that was like a movie thing" 😭 - ThreadSky

starpupstudio.bsky.social • 4 days ago

I've come to realize recently that a good deal of people don't think face blindness (prosopagnosia) is a real thing. I've had several situations where I've been honest with co-workers that I couldn't find them at work because of this disability

One said "oh I thought that was like a movie thing" 😭

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shewolf007.bsky.social•4 days ago

I don't have this fully but I can understand to a degree as I use 'markers' to identify people. Get a new haircut or color, get a new pair of glasses/bag or don't use your typical greeting/phrases and I'm lost. I would imagine other people not understanding would be the hardest part to deal with

starpupstudio.bsky.social•4 days ago

I think all people with face blindness use unconventional markers to identify people! I've gotten to a point where voices are the easiest thing to really recognize over time, since they're very unique to people.

starpupstudio.bsky.social•4 days ago

Wanna help faceblind people out?

Keep ONE UNIQUE THING the exact same about your appearance all the time.

Wear the same specific shoes every day. Always paint your nails red. Have a noticeable piercing. Always wear the same frames of glasses. Give us something to know YOU by!

starpupstudio.bsky.social•4 days ago

Facdblind people don't use your face to identify you. To us, there aren't enough stand-out features in human faces to make them look different from each other.

Next time you go out, look at how many people have shoulder-length blonde-brown hair and are of about the same height (5'6"-5'9")

starpupstudio.bsky.social•4 days ago

If they all had masks on, could you tell who was who? You'd struggle at least! That's the whole world for us.

It gets even more difficult when most people enjoy experimenting with their appearance. If I could only identify you by your long hair and you get a pixie cut... who is that???

starpupstudio.bsky.social•4 days ago

It's natural to experiment with your appearance, but for faceblind people it becomes a nightmare if you happen to take away the tool we were using to identify you! That doesn't mean never change, but don't get upset with us when we now struggle to recognize you. Again, we don't use your face.

starpupstudio.bsky.social•4 days ago

Example: I have a co-worker that I can identify because of his green gauges. Another I can identify because of her unique eye color. I have a friend who is particularly tall, but among a crowd I can recognize her voice if there are other very tall people.

starpupstudio.bsky.social•4 days ago

My best coping mechanism is to ask people to find *me*, because I may be unable to locate them visually. I ask friends to approach me when we meet up so I can save myself the stress of the situation.

The longer I've known someone the easier I am able to find them in a crowd, but I still fail!

spottycat.bsky.social•4 days ago

I've learned to identify people by the way they walk or move, as well as voices, which people rarely change. I've freaked people out by knowing who they are by hearing the sound of them walking when I can't see them. Changing hair or an overall look can really throw me off though.

starpupstudio.bsky.social•4 days ago

Aaah yes I love the occasion when I recognize I specific person's footsteps! I only have a few people I can do that with, and it's usually due to the sound of their shoes

spottycat.bsky.social•4 days ago

I wonder if anyone knows me by Kung Fu shoes/old Beijing canvas shoes or Chaco sandals. With the exception of boots in winter I nearly always wear one or the other. It was weird that I went to the opening of a pollenator garden recently and three people I didn't know were all wearing Chacos.

starpupstudio.bsky.social•4 days ago

I'm the same way! I generally only wear a single pair of shoes until they wear out, then I get new ones etc (aside from special occasions)

pergerinerabbit.com•4 days ago

As someone with prosopagnosia- AWESOME thread. Its also part of why I love the furry fandom/furry events, people wear their badges everywhere.

But yeah i've been rocking the same oversized circle frames for years to help people who are like me out.

starpupstudio.bsky.social•9 hours ago

SO TRUE character badges help me recognize people way easier!!

zeshi.bsky.social•4 days ago

It's no joke btw! I really hope your co-workers take the time to become a bit more aware of how difficult prosopagnosia is and offer to learn what it is that helps you out better so that doesn't happen again.

zeshi.bsky.social•4 days ago

Dang,met a girl back in highschool that has this.I asked what I could do that helped her.The cat ear hair clips I had were very helpful to her to identify me.I wore those things for 4 years every day.Also someone ran a anti bullying campaign that I had no clue about for like half a year at one point

starpupstudio.bsky.social•4 days ago

Every person is different, but having some thing you NEVER CHANGE helps a lot! Either something you always wear (piercings, hats etc) a hairstyle, specific shoes etc because that's what we use to figure out who you are!

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