By Lizzie Parry They have been married for 45 years but still Malcolm Cowen struggles to recognise his own wife in a crowded room. The 67-year-old was born with the rare condition prosopagnosia or 'face-blindness', which means he is unable to recognise faces. The computer-programmer from Manchester has spent his life developing various strategies to help him handle social situations. Mr Cowen, who cannot pick out his own face in the mirror and likens his condition to dyslexia, said he has learned the clothes his wife wears and picks out his grandchildren, according to their ages. Grandfather Malcolm Cowen was born with a rare condition prosopagnosia or 'face-blindness', which means he cannot recognise people's faces, including his own in the mirror and that of his 66-year-old wife Beryl (left)
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Malcolm Cowen has the rare condition prosopagnosia or 'face-blindness'
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The 67-year-old, who likens it to dyslexia, cannot recognise his wife or family
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He has developed various strategies to cope, including spotting people's clothes and hairstyles and picking out his grandchildren according to age
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Wife Beryl, 66, acts as his minder in social situations guiding him
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He said: 'I can't recognise my own face in the mirror. I can't recognise faces in pictures and I can't even recognise my own wife's face'
'Of course when I arrived outside the venue, @placeholder walked straight past me like I wasn’t here.