Completely Unseen

Prosopagnosia is a not so rare condition, only affecting 1 in 50 people. Many would guess that this condition would be a lot more rare because there is no popular talk on it. Most conditions like this one make you have to dig somewhat to find answers, unlike more common conditions like color blindness or being deaf. Actually, the Crown Princess of Sweden, Victoria, has this disorder. Brad Pitt has also mentioned that he might have it. People see this on the news or read about it online but not many people take the time to dig deeper into it. They read it and move on.

People with prosopagnosia don’t see faces and then forget them, rather, they can’t see faces at all. People with this disorder have to find different ways to recognize someone, this could be by their voice, body movement, or something else. Prosopagnosia can be limiting as you can’t have jobs that force you to do things with facial recognition. People are born with this and sadly there’s no cure to help with it as it is a lifetime disorder. When we see pictures of what people with this condition see it may seem disturbing but that’s what people have to live with. Most people don’t tell others that they have this condition so they don’t come off as weird or strange. It is a hidden disorder after all.

Links Used:

Chowhan, Sanjana. “Living with Face Blindness.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 24 Sept. 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/09/living-with-face-blindness/279898/.

“Understanding Prosopagnosia.” Faceblind, https://www.faceblind.org/research/.