The Centre for Face Processing Disorders at BU campaigns for greater recognition of face blindness
Imagine not being able to recognise your own child at nursery or even pick out your own face from a line-up of photos.
This is just how severe face blindness, or prosopagnosia, can be.
"In extreme cases, people might withdraw socially - become depressed, leave their job, or just suffer endless embarrassment," said Bournemouth University psychologist Dr Sarah Bate.
Dr Bate leads the Centre for Facial Processing Disorders at BU, which carries out research to advance understanding of the causes of prosopagnosia and develops training strategies that can help to improve face recognition skills.
The Centre is now campaigning for formal recognition of face blindness, and has launched an e-petition for the issue to be discussed in parliament.
"Children with prosopagnosia can find it really difficult to make friends because all children wear school uniforms in the UK - this takes away any external cues to recognition," said Dr Bate.
"If children with face blindness seem socially withdrawn, this is often misinterpreted as an indicator of other socio-emotional difficulties or behavioural problems because of the lack of professional awareness of prosopagnosia."
She added: “Because prosopagnosia is not a formally recognised disorder, many people are reluctant to inform their employer that they have the condition, despite it influencing their performance at work or their relations with colleagues and clients.
"Indeed, many people feel they would be discriminated against if managers became aware of their condition, and this may prevent promotion and impede other opportunities in the workplace."
You can sign the e-petition here
To find out more about face blindness and the work of the Centre for Face Processing Disorders visit: www.prosopagnosiaresearch.org
(Image: Allegro-Designs)
