So having recently read a post that explained how autistic brains process information details-first / big-picture-second (which I’m not entirely sure I agree with 100%, but boy howdy can I ever focus in on tiny little details that no one else notices), I”m starting to wonder if that’s the reason why I’ve always been able to recognize people when there’s something slightly different about them.
Like, if I’ve seen an actor in a another role but they look totally different, chances are probably 95% I’ll know it’s them anyway. Or if I’ve seen them in a role when they were a certain age and then I see them younger or older, I can still tell.
Traditional ‘wisdom’ is that most folks on the spectrum have trouble with facial recognition because of the difficulty-reading-social-cues thing. But I think this is a false dichotomy. I think we’re dealing with two different issues entirely here, and that one is totally unrelated to the other. (Or maybe that’s one way that male Aspies present that doesn’t apply to females? I don’t know.)
It’s like how medical professionals said for years that autistic people couldn’t experience empathy, and now over-empathizing is one of the officially-recognized symptoms of autism.
And yes, I did get started on thinking about this because John Simm just returned to Doctor Who and I instantly knew it was him from several million miles off.