Mother Cannot Recognize Own Son Due to Rare Condition

A mom has a rare condition that does not allow her to recognize people if they make slight changes to their appearance, including even her son.

Claudia Kozeny-Pelling, 45, from Oxford, has prosopagnosia, a condition that is also known as facial agnosia or face blindness.

If her colleagues and acquaintances have changed their appearances, even in just small details, like getting a new haircut or not wearing their usual jacket, she would not be able to recognize them, the Independent reported.

One heartbreaking incident was when even her son, Sam, who was then a toddler, was unrecognizable to her because he was dressed up in a school play. She watched the play with her husband, Charlie, 44, and could not tell who and where her son was.

"It was horrible. All the children were dressed in teddy bear costumes, and they all looked exactly the same to me, I couldn't see his eye colour or anything close-up that was distinctive so I couldn't tell who was who," Claudia shared.

'Stressful & embarrassing'

Also, a translator and SEO content writer in English and German, she expressed that having face blindness can be "stressful" and really "embarrassing." And adding to the frustration is that the condition has no treatment.

For now, she has held on to a few strategies to figure out who the people in front of her are. She describes the process as "putting a jigsaw together," according to Derbyshire Live.

She would memorize their voices, the way they walk, and a piece of clothing they regularly wear, and then she would try and put the pieces together.

Claudia always thought she was just bad with faces. However, she remembered having face-blind incidents when she was just a teenager. She recalls the one time somebody showed her a group picture, and she thought she was pointing at herself, but actually, it was a boy with a similar short haircut and glasses.

She also said that she struggles watching films and to identify the characters when there are sudden or slight changes in their appearance. Thus, she cannot follow the film's structure and story as she needs clarification, thinking there is a new character when there isn't.

To raise awareness

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) states that prosopagnosia is a neurological disorder classified by one's inability to recognize faces. The condition has a degree of impairment, with some people only having difficulty recognizing familiar faces. Others cannot discriminate between unknown faces or may not even be able to distinguish a face from an object. There are also others who cannot recognize their own face, like Claudia's teenage memory about the group picture presented to her.

It is thought to result from damage or abnormalities or "impairment in the right fusiform gyrus," a part of one's brain that coordinates the neural systems that control memory and facial perception. It is not, in any way, related to memory dysfunction, memory loss, impaired vision, or learning disabilities.

Prosopagnosia happens because of stroke, traumatic brain injury, or certain neurodegenerative diseases. Yet, in some cases, like Claudia's, it is a congenital disorder, present at birth and without any sign of brain damage. It can appear to run in families, explaining a few memories of Claudia running into her relatives and family members and not recognizing each other for a few seconds.

The mom of now 13-year-old Sam was unsure why she was getting confused with faces until she discovered prosopagnosia two years ago by googling her symptoms. She was relieved that she was not alone, with 2.5 percent of the American population and 1.5 million people in the U.K. sharing her condition.

She has already talked to her doctor about it but has yet to be given a formal diagnosis.

Only family members and her best friend know about her condition. She tried sharing it with people before, yet they would not believe her.

She is, however, determined to be open about her condition soon, now that she has a better understanding of it. She hopes that awareness of prosopagnosia will grow and encourages people who have it to see their doctors and research it.