Face blindness.

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A lot of articles make it sound like people who are face blind can't tell other people apart, at ALL. That has to be very rare...

I have some trouble recognizing faces sometimes, even family members if I haven't seen them in awhile but it's usually just a matter of not registering their face, and then when I do it may take a minute but I still know who the person is. As far as acquaintances go, though, I usually never recognize them unless I've seen them many times. They always seem to know who I am, I just go along with it.

But how face blind are most autistic people, really? They can't be as face blind as what's being described on a lot of websites.

Can only speak for myself. I can recognize people if I've seen them numerous times in a specific situation. If they are out of the environment that I'm used to seeing them in I usually don't recognize them. Some people I can tell that I know them but not from where or their names. If someone I know changes their appearance, like a different hair style or growing a beard I wouldn't know who they were. I keep a specific picture of people in my mind; if they don't match it then there is no recognition. Time also plays a role; the more time that passes the less chance I will recognize a person. I hadn't seen my mother in about 4 years; the next time I saw her she was thinner, older, had whiter hair. It took me a bit to figure out who she was.

I remember faces, better than I remember names, so I don't think that I'm face blind.

I can tell other people apart, as in, it's not like I only recognize one stock "human being" face. But I don't recognize my own mother if she's out of context, like if she shows up at work.

My parents divorced when I was young. I lived with my mom and sometimes would visit my dad during the summer for a week or two weeks.

One year, I spent a month with my dad, and took a plane to go back to my mom. When I got off the plane, I didn't see my mom. She was there waiting, but she had gotten a haircut and was wearing new clothes. It was such a strange feeling, because my sister clearly recognized her, but it didn't feel like she was my mom. Even after I understood that she was my mom, something seemed really wrong.

This was over ten years before I heard about prosopagnosia.

It also feels really strange when someone comes up to me and says "Hi" to me and I think about every place that I might have met this person, and until they say something specific I have no idea who they are.

I have a job as a computer tech at a school, and a few months ago there was someone who I knew was going to come in and do some work on the phone system. I had spoken with him face-to-face twice during the previous week. I needed to give him some specific instructions about where to install a telephone jack, so I asked the assistant principal to ask him to come to my office when he came to the school.

Later that day when I was in the hall, he said "Hi" to me. I had no idea who he was, and I didn't realize it until the next day when I mentioned to the assistant principal that he hadn't come to talk to me and she told me that he had been at the school on the previous day.

Also a few months ago, I was checking out of a store, and the checker said my full name without me showing him identification or a card. I had no idea who the person was. It was a person who had been probably the closest thing I had to a friend when I was in high school(the only classmate in all of middle school or high school whose house I had been to, and we had had almost every class together for a year). And I don't think he looked different. I just had no idea who he was, until I looked at the receipt and saw his name. I remembered his voice immediately and so knew that I had known him, but I had no idea who he was.

Another problem is that I think that people are someone I know when they're really not.

I often look at a person for a really long time thinking "Is this my cousin?" or "Is this my sister?" or "Is this <someone who works at the same workplace as me>?" They almost never are, but it happens a lot.

I need to see someone and speak with them several times to be able to recognize them, especially if they look similar to someone else. I am better able to recognize someone by their voice than by their face.

I have a heck of a time with this. I work with some wonderful people in my line of work. Many of my colleagues are from the Phillipines. They are all of small/medium build, mid twenties to mid thirties, shoulder length black hair and generally pretty with typical asian features.

It's embarrassing when I have trouble matching the right name with the right person. The thing is, I'm euro-canadian and might be considered racist if I thought "they all look alike!" So I make a careful note of who I am working with and what they are wearing.

I have been working with the same fantastic group of people for a long time now, so this is no longer a problem - but for a while - it was difficult.

Also, when watching a movie - if there are characters who sort of look similar - I have some trouble tellling who's who. I was watching Kinsey with my dear hubby. I could recognize Liam Nieson's character as he was very distinctive looking. However, Chris O'Donnels' character and another actors character were basically indistinguishable to me. My hubby had to keep telling me who was who (good thing we saw this movie on video as it would have been embarrassing and mildly disruptive in a movie theater ! !

People I don't deal with every week or so, sometimes even then, I will see them and know I know them but have no information popping up. Very common for me.

when one of my nieces died her blond hair black and got piercings, i didn't recognize her at all until she spoke to me.
in my working years, there were many coworkers i didn't recognize until they spoke to me, especially if they wore clothing different from their normal uniforms.