I have told almost no one about a problem I have, but I had another embarrassing situation at a recent campground, so I guess it is time to explain about a problem that I have had all my life, but only recognized in the last few years.
Basically, I have been diagnosed with a mild-to-moderate form of something called face blindness. It is formally known as Prosopagnosia, and it was once considered very rare. It basically means I have difficulty recognizing faces. People with severe forms of this condition cannot recognize even their close family members or children by looking at their faces. (People with this condition include Oliver Sacks, Jane Goodall, Brad Pitt, and probably a lot of other people.)
I have absolutely no problems recognizing relatives and people I know well, but I do have
problems with people I know only slightly or have met only once or
twice. And I NEVER remember which person was my waitress in a restaurant!! If they are looking for someone to identify people in a police lineup, forget asking me!!
Here are a few articles about this condition:
Like a lot of people with this condition, I have tried to develop coping behaviors. For example, I try to focus on people and remember what they are wearing and what their hair looks like. In a campground, I tend to recognize people by the appearance of their rigs, the location of their rig, or even by their dogs. (I have made embarrassing errors when people changed sites!) When I taught in a classroom, I always had a seating chart and tried to recognize people by where they sat. However, I made mistakes when someone moved or cut their hair or did something I did not expect. (Teaching online for the last 20 years was perfect for me since during video meetings, everyone's name showed up under their photos!)
Luckily, I went to a small school district so I was in class with the same people for many years and had no problems recognizing anyone in my class. I also had no problems at work with recognizing the people I worked with in my group. However, I sometimes had embarrassing experiences with customers. This past fall, for example, I ended up chatting with a fellow camper who was one of the customers at Ford Motor Company with whom I worked on a couple of projects. It has been about 12 years, but he recognized me, and I remembered his name, but was embarrassed when I did not recognize him personally. (Luckily, when I was working on projects, there would be regularly scheduled meetings with only a small handful of people attending, so it was relative easy to know who was who.)
The most recent embarrassing moment was when I was doing my laundry in the tiny laundry room at Willow Beach Campground and did not realize that the other woman there was someone who I had sat and chatted with for half an hour the night before!! She was confused that I did not remember our conversation, so I tried to cover it up and made my escape. I suspect she thought I had the beginnings of dementia.
At the last high school class reunion, one classmate was insulted that I ignored her, and told a couple of other people that I was really rude and "stuck-up." The truth is that she had changed a bit in the past 50+ years, and I did not recognize her. Stuck-up was a tag I was often given in high school, however.
What is the cause of this condition? It can be caused by a brain injury or can be present from childhood. The only cause I can see in my case is that I had very poor vision as a child. I remember being tested with my classmates once and passing the "Big E" vision test, but I must have cheated on it! I remember going to the movies with my friends and cousins and always wanting to sit in the front row. I also took binoculars to the drive-in movies, but I still remember having problems following plots and not remembering which movie stars were which.
My parents, however, did not realize my vision was so bad until the end of 6th grade when a teacher noticed that I was copying the homework questions from the boy next to me because I was not able to see the blackboard. (Previously because of my last name, I always sat in the front or second row.) I was taken to an optometrist and discovered that with glasses I could see the little branches on trees for the first time!
Anyway, I read a book about face blindness a few years ago and then found several articles online that described the varying levels of face blindness that people can have. I have taken a couple of online diagnostic tests by non-profits studying this, and also discussed it with my doctor a couple of years ago. I tested in the mild to moderate level, which is about right.
I am lucky that I have problems only with people I do not know well, but I am writing about this so people I meet will know why I might not recognize them when I meet them a second time. (It usually takes me 4-5 times meeting and interacting before I can remember and recognize someone.)
Anyway, that is my big confession, and my secret is out. So, if you recognize me, but I don't recognize you, I apologize.
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