Abby Connolly
Would you be upset if you walked into a room and one of your loved ones didn’t recognize you immediately? What if that person had a medical issue that impaired their vision?
One man has unintentionally upset his girlfriend after he didn’t recognize her due to his vision being affected after an injury.
He’s only 22 years old but unfortunately suffered from a traumatic brain injury recently. The damage caused him to develop prosopagnosia. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, prosopagnosia is a “neurological disorder characterized by the inability to recognize faces.”
“It’s near impossible for me to recognize anyone else unless I remember other distinctive cues about their appearance,” he explained.
So far, he’s only been able to recognize immediate family members and spent two weeks in the hospital, receiving treatment for some of his other medical issues.
He has a girlfriend and wanted to help her prepare for what their relationship would be like with his new injuries and condition. He sent her all the information he could, what he’s been able to see, and articles on prosopagnosia.
His girlfriend insisted on seeing him immediately, so she went to his house right after he left the hospital. That day, he had a cousin that was also supposed to visit. When his girlfriend walked into his room, he couldn’t tell if it was her or his cousin, so he called out, “Can you tell me who you are?”
His question really angered her. She couldn’t believe that he didn’t recognize her.
“I told her that I physically cannot recognize her, and she started crying about how that means she wasn’t important enough to recognize and a whole lot of other stuff,” he recalled.
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