Guest guest Posted April 12, 2010 Report Share Posted April 12, 2010 Has anyone in the group had any experience with treatments for facial blindness (prosopagnosia)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 Hi, Here is the link to the People magazine article that first brought face blindness to my attention. I thought it was interesting that the mother in the story did not realize she had face blindness until she was forty. The article talks about various coping strategies to deal with this disorder. One thing it does not address, however, is whether there are degrees of face blindness. Good luck! People magazine article: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20171183,00.html On 5/6/2011 7:31 AM, rlevin999 wrote: > We recently discovered that our son has facial blindness. From what I've found on the web about this, it seems to be a common issue for people with autism. Our son brought this up himself and asked for help with this. > > Anyone have any experience with this? I understand that it can't be cured. How can we help him compensate for this? > > Thanks! > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 7, 2011 Report Share Posted May 7, 2011 On May 6, 2011, at 8:31 AM, rlevin999 wrote: We recently discovered that our son has facial blindness. From what I've found on the web about this, it seems to be a common issue for people with autism. Our son brought this up himself and asked for help with this. Anyone have any experience with this? I understand that it can't be cured. How can we help him compensate for this? Thanks!Louie has this, although we didn't know about it for years and years. What he figured out for himself is "identifiers" for each person in his life. For his dad, it's his walk & voice. For me, it's my hair (very long) and my height (very short). For his friend Mike, it's his extreme tallness (about 6'6"). Our pastor, his voice, which he hears in the sermon each week. Same for the associate pastor, who also has a beard. It goes on like that. Now, his prosopagnosia (the technical name for face blindness) is not an issue for him, since assigning identifiers to those with whom he deals most often is almost instantaneous.Tell your son to try and figure out what is different about each person he deals with, and remember it. It'll take practice, but he'll get it like he has any number of other coping strategies in dealing with his autism. :)Good luck! Annie, who loves ya annie@..."Anything that happens enough times to irritate you will happen at least once more." ---- Tom Parkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 9, 2011 Report Share Posted May 9, 2011 Hi there! I also have facial blindness. I didn't even realize it until a couple of years ago when researching my son's autism (I believe he also has some facial blindness). I felt SO relieved to understand that this is a real issue, because I had always felt like a big jerk when I failed to recognize my mother-in-law at WalMart, or my sister at the front door, etc. It happened all the time, and I grew pretty good at covering it up, and waiting to hear the person's voice, watching mannerisms, walk, etc. But at least now I understand that it is not this hard for everybody. I think I just felt like I must be really self-centered or that I needed to try harder, and I couldn't figure out why everybody else always recognized me, and I didn't know who they were. So what a relief to know! Now I am more intentional about noticing people's specific facial features, moles, ear shape, hair, their jacket, their favorite shoes . . . you get the idea. It is still like a puzzle whenever I see somebody, trying to figure out who they are. I live in a small town so people smile and say hi to me all the time, and I still am not usually sure if they are just somebody being friendly, or a close friend or family member, until I hear more of their voice. It is embarrassing. But I have told a few people, and tried to explain that if I don't seem friendly, I am not trying to be rude, and to please identify themselves. Awkward, but as far as I understand it there is no " cure, " so I am just glad to know why I have this problem. I think this explains a lot of why I have always been so shy and socially insecure, doesn't it? And why I love forums like this and really dread parties and big group gatherings (unless nametags are worn by all . . . I love those nametags!) le in Washington state > > We recently discovered that our son has facial blindness. From what I've found on the web about this, it seems to be a common issue for people with autism. Our son brought this up himself and asked for help with this. > > Anyone have any experience with this? I understand that it can't be cured. How can we help him compensate for this? > > Thanks! > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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