The disorder which means never remembering a face

The disorder which means never remembering a face

Imagine never being able to recognise or remember familiar faces.

For Joe Hunter, that is exactly what life is like. She suffers from prosopagnosia -- face blindness.

"Growing up I felt quite lonely. I only had a few friends because they were people I could identify and a lot of the time at school. It was just a sea of faces and uniforms," says Ms Hunter.

Ms Hunter can see faces clearly; it is not an eyesight issue but rather a cognitive disorder. To put it simply, she doesn't store faces in her memory bank.

Anni Watkins also suffers from face blindness and she believes it was brought on by a knock to the head 15 years ago.

It's estimated up to 2 percent of the population are born with prosopagnosia and many compensate by becoming uber-sensitive to voices, hair styles or dress sense.

Researcher Anna Barham has compiled New Zealand's first study of the condition and it describes how sufferers feel anxious and lonely.

Both women agree watching films is exhausting as they can't keep track of the characters and lose the plot.

Ms Hunter and Ms Watkins are relieved the study has finally put a name to their problem, even if they struggle to put a name to the face.

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