In a dorm room in a University College late on a Monday evening I reflect on a day that has probably had a little bit of everything in it.
This is a very real condition that afflicts some autistics. It’s not a thing that I have ever really had to consider personally. I don’t really have difficulty in recognising faces. I’ve never felt that I have at all, and I have not really experienced situations where people expect me to recognise them and I don’t.
Face-blindness is a difficult thing for those that deal with it. Imagine the challenge of not recognising your family members and close friends by looking at their face. I imagine there would be many occasions of embarrassment and explanations needing to be made.
For an excellent explanation of this condition please watch the below video by Amythest Schaber of Ask and Autistic.
https://youtu.be/qREQlELyH40
No I don’t suffer face-blindness, and I don’t in anyway wish to minimise the challenges that go with it, though, during one of the activities I had to complete during the neuro-psychological assessment I completed I noticed something quite interesting that I had not ever noticed in myself before.
I discovered that, I don’t in fact look at a whole face, I don’t see a face as a whole but as a combination of different features. This was a real surprise to me, and has left me thinking about it over the last few days.
The activity involved looking at a face and then matching that face with a group of other faces. There were about six other faces, one of which matched the original. I found this activity a lot more challenging than I expected it to be.
The key thing I noticed was that I wasn’t able to look at the face and then the other faces and easily make the connection with the correct face. I noticed that in fact what I saw was a bunch of individual features, a set of eyes or a chin, or a pair of ears.
I then found I had to take that set of ears or eyes or that chin and find them in the other faces.
The activity followed up with an activity which was similar, yet quite different. I was in this case required to identify not just the same face but also two others which were the same but facing a slightly different direction. This was actually very difficult.
Clearly, with my history of recognition of my family, friends and aquaintainces this condition is not an issue I have. I wonder though now is there a spectrum within this condition too. A spectrum of how well we are able to recognise and identify faces. I
" data-medium-file="" data-large-file="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-3620" src="https://threehandsoneheart.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/quotes-933816_1920.jpg?w=612&h=462&resize=300%2C225" alt="quotes-933816_1920" data-recalc-dims="1">My daughter sleeps in the dorm room next door. A shared bathroom between us. We have had similar days I think. We are 2000km from home in the middle of participating in brain research.We began our day with an early morning trip to the airport, complete with the usual little bits and pieces that go with that. Negotiating the traffic, taking the correct exit to access the correct car park. Finding the courtesy bus to the terminal, getting off at the right terminal. Negotiating the security scanners, thankfully no removal of shoes or belts or other paraphernalia was required. There was no explosive checks or any of that palava.
We found coffee, we found our gate and we waited for boarding. We had separate seats so we were prepared for that eventuality. We knew we were to be in the centre seats of the row and were expecting to have to deal with that. For my girl, this seems to be something she takes in her stride. For me not so much.
Wherever I go to a venue I always attempt an aisle. I get quite anxious and panicky when in the middle of people. I was reasonably close to the front of the plane, I counted that as something of a consolation to having to sit in the centre. Thankfully the person on the other side of me was already in place and I didn’t need to concern myself with the getting settled and then having to move to let them in scenario.
As I sat I was delighted to discover the plain equipped with the headrest screens so I could at least plug in my noise cancelling headphones and immerse myself in a movie. Incidentally I watched Paper Towns, I enjoyed it very much. What I hadn’t counted on of course was the eventuality of both of these men having a need to constantly extend their elbows.
This may not seem like much but it did mean for me a constant heightened awareness of that fact which on the wrong day and time can be quite difficult to manage and push me towards meltdown responses. Thank goodness for the immersion in the screen. I am quite convinced that was a real factor in my managing the situation well.
This is a very real condition that afflicts some autistics. It’s not a thing that I have ever really had to consider personally. I don’t really have difficulty in recognising faces. I’ve never felt that I have at all, and I have not really experienced situations where people expect me to recognise them and I don’t.
Face-blindness is a difficult thing for those that deal with it. Imagine the challenge of not recognising your family members and close friends by looking at their face. I imagine there would be many occasions of embarrassment and explanations needing to be made.
For an excellent explanation of this condition please watch the below video by Amythest Schaber of Ask and Autistic.
https://youtu.be/qREQlELyH40
No I don’t suffer face-blindness, and I don’t in anyway wish to minimise the challenges that go with it, though, during one of the activities I had to complete during the neuro-psychological assessment I completed I noticed something quite interesting that I had not ever noticed in myself before.
I discovered that, I don’t in fact look at a whole face, I don’t see a face as a whole but as a combination of different features. This was a real surprise to me, and has left me thinking about it over the last few days.
The activity involved looking at a face and then matching that face with a group of other faces. There were about six other faces, one of which matched the original. I found this activity a lot more challenging than I expected it to be.
The key thing I noticed was that I wasn’t able to look at the face and then the other faces and easily make the connection with the correct face. I noticed that in fact what I saw was a bunch of individual features, a set of eyes or a chin, or a pair of ears.
I then found I had to take that set of ears or eyes or that chin and find them in the other faces.
The activity followed up with an activity which was similar, yet quite different. I was in this case required to identify not just the same face but also two others which were the same but facing a slightly different direction. This was actually very difficult.
So
" data-medium-file="" data-large-file="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3619" src="https://threehandsoneheart.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/tears-934725_1280.jpg?w=612&h=476&resize=300%2C232" alt="tears-934725_1280" data-recalc-dims="1">Arrival at Brisbane was seemless. Straight into a cab, and arrival at the university ahead of schedule. The next hiccup left the cab driver waiting for me, as I waited in the foyer of the University building for the person I was meeting to return from morning tea break to pay for the taxi. That was a little stressful but thankfully short-lived. Actually I think the receptionist was a little more stressed about not being able to raise her as I was.After some consent form completion I was off to find the dorm room and my girl off to the first part of the testing. Three hours of a neuropsychiatric assessment. She seemed to take it in her stride when I caught up to her. I was needlessly concerned how she would manage the stress of it all.
I had a bit of downtime before it was my turn. I found my way over to the psychology unity and prepared myself for my three hours of testing.
As I prepared I wondered to myself, what if they assess me and conclude I am not autistic after all. I chuckled at this thought, recalling of course that this was a research assessment and not diagnostic and they would not be making such judgements. But nevertheless it did occur at some level.
I imagine such thoughts are throwback to so many years of self-doubt and wondering of what my identity and place in the world were.
Three hours of psych assessment is tiring. Hours of answering questions, identifying emotions, remembering words, pattern recognition and mental arithmetic take their toll. Even when it is something you enjoy.
I emerged, feeling like an old worn out sponge ready for recycling.
This is a very real condition that afflicts some autistics. It’s not a thing that I have ever really had to consider personally. I don’t really have difficulty in recognising faces. I’ve never felt that I have at all, and I have not really experienced situations where people expect me to recognise them and I don’t.
Face-blindness is a difficult thing for those that deal with it. Imagine the challenge of not recognising your family members and close friends by looking at their face. I imagine there would be many occasions of embarrassment and explanations needing to be made.
For an excellent explanation of this condition please watch the below video by Amythest Schaber of Ask and Autistic.
https://youtu.be/qREQlELyH40
No I don’t suffer face-blindness, and I don’t in anyway wish to minimise the challenges that go with it, though, during one of the activities I had to complete during the neuro-psychological assessment I completed I noticed something quite interesting that I had not ever noticed in myself before.
I discovered that, I don’t in fact look at a whole face, I don’t see a face as a whole but as a combination of different features. This was a real surprise to me, and has left me thinking about it over the last few days.
The activity involved looking at a face and then matching that face with a group of other faces. There were about six other faces, one of which matched the original. I found this activity a lot more challenging than I expected it to be.
The key thing I noticed was that I wasn’t able to look at the face and then the other faces and easily make the connection with the correct face. I noticed that in fact what I saw was a bunch of individual features, a set of eyes or a chin, or a pair of ears.
I then found I had to take that set of ears or eyes or that chin and find them in the other faces.
The activity followed up with an activity which was similar, yet quite different. I was in this case required to identify not just the same face but also two others which were the same but facing a slightly different direction. This was actually very difficult.
Clearly, with my history of recognition of my family, friends and aquaintainces this condition is not an issue I have. I wonder though now is there a spectrum within this condition too. A spectrum of how well we are able to recognise and identify faces. I suppose it is a possibility. Something of course people far more qualified than me would be able to speak to with far more insight. I do wonder though of course.
" data-medium-file="" data-large-file="" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-3621" src="https://threehandsoneheart.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/tired-418902_1920.jpg?w=612&h=612&resize=300%2C300" alt="tired-418902_1920" data-recalc-dims="1">Even though this takes its toll in the energy stakes, I have to admit it was kind of lovely and wonderful to sit through an experience and have your skills in these areas acknowledged and applauded.
We head back tomorrow for stage two, another two hours for the two of us. My girl also has an MRI, so is looking forward to some time in the big tunnel. I get to visit the vampires to donate some of my red stuff to the archives of scientific investigation.
Whilst it is my hope and dream to be involved in co-produced research through such wonderful organisations as Autism CRC. It is an honour and a privilege to be a part of research that looks into the questions surrounding the Corpus Callosum, that largest white matter structure of the brain that science seems to have so little information about so far.
