One of the most puzzling symptoms of Asperger Syndrome is prosopagnosia (pros·o·pag·no·sia) or face blindness. Just as it sounds, face blindness is the inability to recognize faces. The person can see faces perfectly clearly, but the image fades rapidly from memory when the person is out of sight. The face blind person will remember the hair, the glasses and maybe even the mannerisms, but not the facial features of the other person. It seems to affect about 60% of those with Asperger Syndrome.

Prosopagnosia runs the gamut from being relatively mild in which the person can remember the face after 3-4 prolonged contacts with the person or severe in which the person may not recognize family members.

This can dramatically affect how a child or adult interacts in the world. For children with AS, the first day of school, when children are making friends, is difficult because of the severe anxiety and poor social skills. Face blindness adds to this concern, because on the second day, the AS child with prosopagnosia, can't remember who the child they may have talked or played with the day before.

Most AS adults have no idea that they may have prosopagnosia and just lead their lives thinking they have a poor memory for faces. Adults with face blindness can appear rude or unprofessional as they will often walk right by a person they have already met in both personal and business settings.

While there are sophisticated tests to determine this condition, a simple test is to close your eyes and envision the face of a loved one. If you find that you can't see their facial features sharply, but can only see hair, then you may have it.

There is very little literature on this topic. In fact, Asperger Syndrome: Natural Steps Toward A Better Life is perhaps the first published book that contains an entire chapter on the condition including the latest scientific research and what can be done to compensate for this limitation.

Good online information about prosopagnosia can be found at these sites.

Research:
http://www.faceblind.org/research/
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/prosopagnosia/Prosopagnosia.htm
http://vectors.usc.edu/issues/04_issue/malperception/prosopagnosia.html

Personal Accounts:
http://www.prosopagnosia.com/
http://thiswayoflife.org/faceblind.html

Online Book:
http://www.choisser.com/faceblind/ (While most of this book is really helpful, the author reveals his sexuality orientation which some readers may find unnecessary.)