I tend to recognize people based on the clothing they wear rather than their face or physical features. I have to see someone consistently for a pretty good period of time before I can do something like pick them out of a crowd.
I can attribute what certain amount of faceblindness I have to my poor vision (I'm myopic, -4.0ish in both eyes) - as a result of my poor vision I have a predisposition towards noticing hair colour, clothing and especially nonvisual cues such as voice before I recognize and associate the face - even if I can clearly see the face when my contacts are in.
Is there such a thing as ... um ... facenearsightedness? Or is that just a telltale sign of myopia?
I alway forgot to mention that autistics don't typically struggle with face memory (just face recognition). Therefore, someone on the spectrum who does observe a face so that he or she can distinguish it from others' faces, he or she wouldn't have any more or less difficulty than the average NT in remembering what the face looked like. Autistics only are less readily "drawn" to faces and less successful at observing and cataloging faces in such a way that they can later recognize the face from those stored observations. Neither a NT nor an autistic wouldn't have an advantage over the other in securely storing (i.e., remembering) the observations based on their neurology alone.
I don't know... I'm pretty face blind and I do care and do try very very hard! If I need to remember someone's face, I will stare at it, study it, look for even the smallest identifying marks, and I will still forget what the person looks like 90% of the time. I frequently have people wave, smile or say hi to me at work, and I can't for the life of me remember who they are. The worst is when I'm talking with someone about having met with someone else, and since I NEVER remember to ask people their names, I will be asked something like, "well, what did he/she look like?" If I'm lucky, I can remember their hair color and maybe their skin color. Actually, that's the second worst. The worst is having someone show up at my office and re-introduce themselves as, "hi," expecting me to remember who they are and why they're in my office.
One time, this guy walked up to me while I was wearing big dark sunglasses and our conversation went like this:
Him: Hi! I haven't seen you in ages!!
Me (having no idea who he was, but not wanting to weird him out): Hi, how are you?
Him: I'm good, I'm good, how's school going?
Me: What?
Him: Are you done your midterms?
Me: Midterms?
Him: Oh... wait. Oh my God, you're not who I thought you were. I'm really sorry!
did you win your chess game?
i have trouble recognising people if i am not around them for very long.
I think the term "face-blindness" refers to the inability to detect a person's mood by the appearance of their face, rather than distinguishing between two different people.
It actually does refer to distinguishing between people (Prosopagnosia).
I've shared this online quiz with my sister. It's purpose is to try to give people who don't have the problem, an idea of what it is like to have prosopagnosia. It's kind of fun to take:
http://www. prosopagnosia .com/main/stones/index.asp
I do not know what percentage of Aspies have it. I do know that a lot of people with prosopagnosia seem to be also on the spectrum. Research is in it's infancy. A few years ago it was considered extremely rare. Now that Harvard researchers have been publicizing through Yahoo, more people are surfacing. The thought now is that there are many more people with it than anyone realized. Those who've always lived with it didn't realize what was wrong before it was publicized with a name. Hard to get a count on people because they spend their lives trying to hide it.
Here is an article that recently came out in Wired magazine:
http://www. wired .com/wired/archive/14.11/blind.html?pg=1&topic=blind&topic_set=
(paints white-out on the screen to take out the typo boo-boos)
I can't recognize family or recognize myself often. At work I have a hard time sorting out which person is my boss. I can't tell if the meeting room I peek into is the right one with members of my department. It is unnerving not knowing if a person on your porch is a friend, your brother, the next door neighbor, a repairman or a salesman so you can react appropriately. I've become rather reclusive. Losing sight, for just a moment, of my partner or date at a party, restaurant, store or airport can cause panic. I know I won't be able to "find" them again. Another tense moment is meeting a group of friends at restaurants. I stand in the door hoping someone will wave.
People expect recognition and response within a few seconds of eye contact. If I don't, they assume they were snubbed. This has caused angry reactions from people I didn't even realize were there.