Redheaded Jill

Have you ever heard of face blindness or prosopagnosia? It is a neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces, from the greek words for “face” and “lack of knowledge”.

This plot point has come to light recently in some Korean Dramas. (One starring Suho from EXO. It wasn’t the best… but I’ll always support EXO! And another called The Undateables. This show was excellent!)

Anyway, my mom deals with face blindness. She wasn’t diagnosed by a doctor, but she’s always struggled with faces. She says that voices are what help her recognize people the most, but until she knows someone well she forgets their face. This happens in movies too. She can rarely recognize an actor from one show to the next unless she’s a huge fan.

I also struggle to recognize people, though I don’t know if it’s a memory issue or an anxiety issue. In my head when I picture a crowd everyone looks the same unless I know someone. If you told me to picture a brunette, in my head all brunettes are the same. All the blondes are the same. All the redheads are the same. Unless I can think of a friend with red hair, or a relative with blonde hair. In my head people are just one big general group with little distinction. It takes several times of meeting someone and talking to them before I recognize them.

I worry that I come across as rude to people because I might introduce myself several times. I have been accused of “not caring” enough to remember. While it’s true I don’t enjoy crowds or meeting new people, I don’t like mixing up names and faces and not knowing Tom from Harry. It’s stressful!

When I am at an event I have started taking notes. It helps a lot at church, especially when there are lots of people who are related and look similar. One thing I hope to learn through the Jose Silva method of meditation is better recollection of memories. To better remember names and faces of people I meet.

Do you have this struggle or a similar one?