Twelve Things I Want You To Know About Faceblindness – and why you should stop appropriating our experience
Stop it. Just stop it. I’m talking about appropriation, manifested as your weird expressions of solidarity when you encounter someone with faceblindness. There’s a name for this condition, which I was diagnosed with many years ago. It’s prosopagnosia (from the Greek prosopon for face and agnosia for ignorance). In my case, it’s a genetic, congenital condition, although it can also be acquired with damage to the brain. It’s awful, and it’s getting worse. Last week, I enthusiastically kissed a public servant I met once and hugged a woman I really do not like. I am routinely cold with friends until I work out who the hell they are and I fiercely detest the moment when I am expected to introduce one person to another person, because you can bet your bottom dollar I have no idea who one of them is. People’s faces also serve as an important identifying feature in memory, so we faceblind people have diffic...