Awareness | NAblur

Invisible Disabilities

Prosopagnosia (Face Blindness)

What is Face Blindness?

The inability to recognize human faces is called Prosopagnosia or face blindness. Face blindness is a spectrum disorder, the condition can extend to inability to identify one’s own face. As per available medical opinion, knowingly or unknowingly, 2% of population suffers from some degree of face blindness [Source: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/face-blindness/].

What causes Face Blindness?

There is a particular part in the brain called fusiform gyrus which is responsible for capturing, retaining and retrieving the image of a human face. In case of injury, damage or malfunctioning of fusiform gyrus, either due to neurological damage or congenital impairment, the ability to process human faces for definitive identity is severely impaired. There is no other faculty in the human brain which can substitute this activity.

Is there a cure for Face Blindness?

There is no cure for this condition. Usually people develop coping strategies based on the extent of impairment and supportive environment. It is not uncommon for Prosopagnosia patients to develop social anxiety and become reclusive. On the other hand, they can equally become extremely outgoing to compensate for their perceived lack of behaviour. They could be found pursuing career paths and social life where human interaction can be curtailed to be non-existent.

What are the challenges posed by Face Blindness?

Most people never realize their condition or realize it very late in life due to lack of awareness, and live their lives accepting the popular notion that they display poor behaviour. In a normal course, one is able to identify every known person irrespective of context, from an acceptable distance within a given time. Failing to be able to do so has an impact on how one interacts socially, which coupled with lack of awareness of the impairment, results in social isolation, negative branding and guilt. It also can lead to missed opportunities of friendship and association, and at the worst, to personal safety challenges.

How can the environment provide support?

Observe behaviour and note peculiarities. Some examples:

The individual acknowledges and speaks well with you in planned, pre-organized meeting or context, but fails to routinely identify/acknowledge you during unexpected meetings, or in large-gatherings, or when there is change in appearance like hairstyle or dressing, or in formal or informal settings where there is an adherence to uniform dress code.

The individual insists on avoiding group activities, or activities which involve building one to one interpersonal skills, or social interactions and prefers to be in the background. There could also be a lot of noise around this individual being uncaring or rude in their manner and speech, but they don't come across like that when spoken to.

Some notable personalities with Face Blindness:

Face Blindness