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'I can't recognise my family's faces'

Dr Hayley Ryder Hayley Ryder and her husband, both holding a cat inside their house. Hayley has a checked shirt on and long wavy dark hair. Her husband has grey hair and is wearing a dark coloured top. Dr Hayley Ryder
Dr Hayley Ryder could not recognise her husband of 30 years if she saw him out of context

An academic who cannot recognise people - including her own husband or children - hopes a new project will raise awareness of the little-known condition of face blindness.

Dr Hayley Ryder, who has had the condition prosopagnosia throughout her life, said: "I'm sure I continually offend people."

The Milton Keynes-based Open University (OU) academic cannot distinguish people by their faces so instead has to rely on other cues such as hairstyles or clothing.

Her colleague Prof Catriona Havard is starting a project to raise the profile of the condition and find ways to support those who have it.

"It's not as simple as someone being a bit bad with names, it's way more than that but people just don't understand it," Prof Havard said.

Listen: Dr Hayley Ryder, a lecturer at the Open University in Milton Keynes, talks about living with facial blindness

What is face blindness and how many people are affected by it?

  • Prosopagnosia, known as face blindness, is a condition where you have difficulty recognising people's faces. There is no treatment, but there are things you can do to help you recognise people.
  • It affects people differently. Some people may not be able to tell the difference between strangers or people they do not know well.
  • Actor Brad Pitt revealed in 2013 he was suffering from the condition.
  • It is believed to affect between 2 and 3 per cent of people.

Dr Ryder, in her 50s and a mum-of-three, said it was not until her late 20s that she realised she had a medical condition.

"All my life I was aware that people I thought were complete strangers would come up and talk to me as if they knew me.

"If I meet my husband of 30 years out of context, I wouldn’t know it was him. I can’t recognise my children.

"I can’t even join my colleagues at lunch unless they come and get me first, because I’m just looking at a set of crowded tables.

"It's very hard socially - people think you’re just keeping yourself to yourself or not bothering."

Chris Drabwell/The Open University Prof Catriona Havard and Dr Hayley Ryder stand side-by-side outside a white building with sash windows, with hedges in the background. Prof Havard is wearing a red jacket, open, with two black buttons, over a grey t-shirt with a rainbow coloured lightning strike. She is white with blond shoulder length hair. Dr Ryder has curly long dark brown hair and is wearing a checked shirt with a green gilet over it, and an OU blue lanyard around her neck.Chris Drabwell/The Open University
Prof Catriona Havard (left) and Dr Hayley Ryder (right) met at a recent OU workshop to explore face blindness

Prof Havard has written a book about the topic and wants to create a free screening tool to classify youngsters with prosopagnosia, and other resources to help support children and adults.

She said: "A lot of children get misdiagnosed at school with things like autism because they can’t recognise their friends and may be socially interacting in a different way."

The OU has provided funding via its Open Societal Challenges Project, with the aim of attracting more finance to develop the research further.

"My major ambition is people know about face blindness, so it’s as commonly talked about as ADHD or autism.

"Parents can help their children and adults can talk to their co workers and friends, so we can make allowance for them and their behaviour," said Prof Harvard.

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