I spent the day at the event where I was promoting our program to students. It’s fine, I don’t mind doing it but I can’t recognize people out of context at all. I mean, at all. They keep coming up, and I have no bloody idea if I’m supposed to know them. Nobody looks even vaguely familiar. If my own mother came up, I wouldn’t recognize her, it’s that bad.
The most embarrassing moment was when a student in the course I’m teaching stopped by and I asked her if she was interested in learning Spanish. There were also several people who seem to think we are great friends, and I have no idea who they are.
The only ray of sunshine was our new Ukrainian instructor who came up and started speaking in Ukrainian which nobody else does, so I placed her immediately.
Clarissa's Blog 
Prospagnosia.
I’m not as bad about it as you are– the longer I’ve known a person the less trouble I have recognizing them, but things like hairstyle, makeup habits, jewelry, and how they typically dress have just as much or more importance as a face, when trying to identify people.
Spent about half an hour Sunday morning trying to figure out if a gray-haired gent. in the pews was the same gray-haired gent who’d been at Wednesday vespers. He wasn’t, but I couldn’t tell from his face, I had to deduce it from the thinness of his hair, his height, and his apparent age, none of which matched my memory of the other fellow.
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(I am more likely to recognize someone’s shoes than his or her face)
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I have a young colleague whose prospagnosia is about as bad as yours. He absolutely doesn’t recognize people out of context and often ends ups perceived as rude for not recognizing someone. My husband’s case seems a bit milder in that he recognizes the people he knows well, but for instance he cannot recognize the same actor in different shows, even if we’re watching the two shows the same evening, back to back. If we run into a kid’s friend’s parents at a grocery store, for example, there is no chance the person will register as familiar at all with my husband.
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I often have to ask my husband during a show if an actor who appears on different clothes is the same person from before in the episode. Sometimes I get very confused because I have no idea that what I think are 3 different characters are the same person.
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Prosopagnosia. I’m in the same boat. Also, onomagnosia.
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This is me, also. I think it’s worse now I’m in the US because I am very recognizable to other people (I’m the one with the British accent ) so other people remember me very easily. But even back in the UK, I had this problem. I decided some years ago to just be upfront and self-deprecating about it. If someone recognizes me and I haven’t a clue who they are (happens all the time, especially at the school gates), I just apologize and tell them I am the absolute worst with faces and names. Out of context is even worse!
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