Is a label useful? We believe that sometimes the answer is YES.
The Alert Cards and Badges are available FREE to all members based in the UK via the online Membership Form. We can supply these to members abroad with a small charge for postage.
Badges
For those of us with prosopagnosia (face blindness) it’s easy to appear rude by walking straight past a friend, or look confused when an apparent stranger greets us, even if we’ve explained our difficulty to someone in the past. Wearing a badge may help to remind to others that we may not recognise them and smooth over some awkward social situations.
Even when you’ve explained the condition to someone they may not recall the fact when you next walk past them. The hope is that if you point out the badge the first time you tell someone about your face blindness, then the next time you walk past them in the street or blank them in a crowded pub, they’ll spot the badge, be reminded and make themselves known to you.
We decided not to be too explicit in stating the fact that the wearer has face blindness as not recognising someone can make prosopagnosics vulnerable. If you don’t want to explain to someone who asks about the badge you can simply say: “It means people puzzle me/interest me” etc. It’s up to you what you share about yourself.
If you do wear the badge, you’ll also be helping to raise awareness of face blindness which affects around 2% of the population, and perhaps open up some interesting conversations. Who knows you may find yourself talking to someone who has the same difficulty but hasn’t been aware of the condition before.
Order via online Membership Form.
Alert Cards
Whether you’re trying to explain to a police officer that you cannot identify someone, need help to find a family member you’re visiting in hospital or a child you’re picking up from school, we hope this card may be of use.
You can keep an Alert Card in your purse or wallet to show to someone to whom you need to explain your difficulty in recognising people. It might be when you’ve mistaken one person for another, or when you’re asked to identify an individual and you know that you can’t.
Most people haven’t heard of the neurological condition prosopagnosia (face blindness) and may find it hard even to believe that such a condition exists.
Without an explanation there are circumstances when someone with face blindness can be seen as uncooperative, rude or incompetent. The hope is that by making the other person aware of the fact that face blindness is a neurological condition, that instead you will receive understanding and support.
The Alert card has a brief explanation of prosopagnosia and when scanned by an App the QR Code links to more information on this website in the Awareness Section.
