Being a modern American male, I have diagnosed myself via the internet for a condition I would never see a doctor about. And I am confident of my diagnosis.<\/p>\n\n\n
(Although I have a relatively mild case.)<\/p>\n\n\n
I have Prosopagnosia.<\/p>\n\n\n
And I am not alone. Prosopagnosia is estimated to afflict 1 out of every 50 human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n
The common term is Face Blindness and it is the “inability to recognize or differentiate faces”. It’s a brain disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n
I am only half joking about diagnosing myself with Prosopagnosia. I definitely have a harder time than most people in recognizing faces.<\/p>\n\n\n
You often hear “I might not recall your name, but I never forget a face”.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
I forget both.<\/p>\n\n\n
During many social interactions, I find myself wondering “have I met you before?” or “how do I know you?”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Pair this with my weak memory, and it can really add to my social anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n
Here’s a recent example: On a particular Sunday morning this past December, I was introduced to two gentlemen at church who expressed interest in joining the men’s small group I am leading. One of these guys walked away to greet someone else, but I spoke to the other for about five minutes. I told both of them that we would be restarting the group after the holidays and I got their names and phone numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
So I have been in contact with them by texting, but if I have seen them in passing on the Sunday mornings since our conversation, I have not recognized them or greeted them.<\/p>\n\n\n
I seriously don’t remember what either man looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n
So I imagine they have both smiled at me at church and I have walked right past them without acknowledging them. Or asking how they are doing. Or inviting them again to join our group.<\/p>\n\n\n
And they probably think I am a jerk.<\/p>\n\n\n
I’m not a jerk. And I am not uncaring.<\/p>\n\n\n
I have Prosopagnosia. And there’s no cure.<\/p>\n\n\n
(Now I just have to figure out how to pronounce it.)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Being a modern American male, I have diagnosed myself via the internet for a condition I would never see a doctor about. And I am confident of my diagnosis. (Although I have a relatively mild case.) I have Prosopagnosia. And I am not alone. Prosopagnosia is estimated to afflict 1 out of every 50 human […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1800,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions\/1800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}