Real Brain Issue, Not Me Being Snobbish

Shenaz Treasury shared this image (courtesy: shenaztreasury)

Actor and travel blogger Shenaz Treasury has revealed on her Instagram Stories that she suffers from a medical condition called prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness. In a series of Instagram Stories, Shenaz explained that she had recently been diagnosed with the cognitive disorder and is now able to understand the reason she has trouble recognizing faces and voices, even of people she has known for a while. She’s often considered “aloof” and “snobbish” because of her inability to recognize or correctly identify people. “This is a real brain issue,” Shenaz Treasury wrote, urging others to “be kind.”  

 “I have been diagnosed with prosopagnosia. Now, I understand why I’ve never been able to put faces together,” Shenaz Treasury, 41, wrote on her Instagram Stories on Tuesday, reports news agency PTI. “You have difficulty recognising neighbours, friends, coworkers, clients, schoolmates. People you know expect you to recognise them. Failing to recognise someone might make you seem aloof. Many sufferers report losing friends and offending coworkers because they have failed to recognise them. This is me. And I thought I was just dumb,” she wrote.

“I’ve always felt so ashamed that I mix up people and can’t recognise faces of people — even close friends after a few years – I can’t recognize them. This is a real brain issue. Please be kind and understand,” Shenaz Treasury wrote.

Shenaz Treasury explained how those who suffer from prosopagnosia use hair as a “memory cue.” She wrote: “When someone gets a haircut, you may not recognize them when you see them again. Many people with face blindness use hair as a way to remember people. When a person’s hair changes, that memory cue is lost. So now please understand that this is a real disorder and not me being aloof or snobbish”

Shenaz Treasury was a model and MTV VJ before making her acting debut in 2001 Telugu film Eduruleni Manishi. She is best-known for her work in 20003’s Ishq Vishk and 2011 film Delhi Belly.

Brad Pitt claimed in a recent interview with GQ that he has difficulty remembering people but has never been formally diagnosed with prosopagnosia.