Aphantasia (mind blown)

[AlexH]

I once dated someone with quite severe Prosopagnosia. He would ask me to greet him verbally first if we're meeting up somewhere crowded (e.g. if he was picking me up from the airport or train station) so he could recognise me by my voice, gait, hairstyle, and body shape.

As for my face, he said that he could discern my face when with me but once I'm out of sight, he can't remember what I look like given that so much of conventional beauty standards are based on facial looks.

It was a little strange to realise that someone romantically involved with me wouldn't be able to identify me in a crowd or describe me to someone else.

But going back to Aphantasia - I can't imagine what that's like because I've always had a very visual imagination whether I'm reading, writing, or daydreaming. I suppose for people with Aphantasia, reading fantasy is akin to reading a very dry history textbook that just info-dumps at you?

I remember what people look like but unless I see them regularly or they have a particularly defining visual characteristic I might not recognise them. I've mistaken my own family members for other members of family and I can get self-conscious about meeting people I don't see very often. One time I was stood near a friend I was meeting without knowing as she was on her phone and hadn't seen me approach. She had sunglasses and headphones on and I didn't want to stare at her too much to try and figure out if it was her, in case she was a stranger. Another time someone started talking to me at a gig. After a few minutes I wondered if it was someone from the band (who I've seen numerous times). It turns out it was, but I didn't recognise him because he usually wears a helmet or pilot's hat onstage.

As for Aphantasia, I've always considered myself to have a vivid imagination too. I don't mind if there isn't much visual description in books as I'm already imagining things myself. Sometimes descriptions throw me off as I'd imagined something else. This was a failing in some of my early stories, when I hardly described anything visually.