Francesca Livesey

I am exactly the same.  My career path can best be described as policy supply chain sustainability environmental slavery and procurement expert I tell people that I, like Dirk Gently, believe in the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. Because I know quite a lot about many many areas and I read fast I am actually very good in my role which is connecting dots others don't see.  This is because they tend to be specialist eg they are a travel procurement professional, I tell them all about the law and policy changes that are coming up that affect them link them up with the energy team who are doing work with the grid to plan a charging network, and the policy teams in the energy and environmental  departments and tell them that they can use spending to leverage the change that they want in their policy.  I tell all of them that they need to talk to the ICT team as chips are critical to what they are doing and that critical and conflict mineral supply, as well as global supply chain disruption will impact them and the risk of slavery in those supply chains,  I link them to the NGOs and the business departments and other bodies who are working on supply chain security and the treasury people working on tax policy.  I then tell them about the strategic risks and opportunities to travel as a service such as making it more accessible for disabled people and link them up with the charities and stakeholder groups that I work with I then help them prioritise all this, set up working groups, redesign parts of their contract and tender documentation, help them evaluate it and work with suppliers before and after the contract is awarded. I have 2 science degrees and a science masters a law degree, am almost finished with a procurement degree.  Because of this I struggle to understand people who aren't equally interested in understanding all the things around what they are doing and I can find it difficult to pitch to people Scope creep is a huge problem with me, as is my perfectionist nature.  If I was asked to carbon footprint I would also be, can we not also lay some groundwork for the future water footprinting that we will be doing with them anyway in a few years.  

If it helps I can never find anyones cars. If I got out of it with them and walked to the building I would remember where it was parked generally but not what it looked like.  If someone came out and turned it around or moved it, I would be unable to find it. This was a big problem when I used to get a different hire car a day for work.  Also people would ask me what the car was and I would maybe have prompted myself to remember that it was blue, but I would only know it was blue and car shaped.  However I am completly disinterested in cars in general. Spelling for me has always been a phonic exercise so I would sound out words.  As a voracious reader I often read words before anyone ever said them to me, so I had some interesting pronunciations! I found it more annoying with strings of numbers and equations. I cannot remember long strings of digits.  If eg phone numbers or currency are stacked one on top of another in a spreadsheet I will loose digits, transpose them up and down and across, and also to me 3,5, 68,0 are visually interchangable depending on the font/ handwriting which also adds to the fun.  I do have a diagnosis of dyscalcula however I wonder if people who can see the information in their minds eye might find this easier. I also rely on understanding to remember things.  I cannot remember a bald fact (eg I did geology and despite trying to rote learn it I still cannot list out geological time in order) however because I understand the logic behind structural geology I can remember those concepts.  Equally I find it very easy to rapidly read huge reports for work, and remember all the concepts, but will have to write prompts for actual  individual facts. I have however had moderate success with rote learning languages, effectively I practice and practice and recite it like a dirge and it eventually sticks.  Because I have to do this, but can quickly and rapidly understand concepts I think may people think I am smarter than I actually am.      

Nope ditto. I adore reading, but I don't see anything.  As you say I conceptualise

I see nothing at all in any scenario, including trying to remember eg my dead grandparents where clearly I would love to be able to do that. Aphantasia appears to be a spectrum from people like me, to those that see a vague outline ir blur of an object so some how have some detail.  In your case you can see letters but not a word, I see nothing but that doesn't mean you may not have aphatasia, as I understand it, just that it is not as strong for you. I have found that this affects many annoying real life things, such as putting names to faces, or in any way being able to visualise distance or estimate someones height.  I know 1m is just about my hip, but I cannot translate that into visualising how far 3m in front of me is. I have a tapemeasure.  That is my workaround. Also I am getting older and give less of a s*** so actually come straight out and tell people I don't remember their name.  For most people I work with in their contacts file I actually keep a note of things like looks like X, has Y kids, doesn't like to travel so schedule virtual meetings or go to them.  I think most of my colleagues would be horrified by this, but it is the only way I can associate the name and the detail with their physical person for any length of time.  Sometimes it can take years before I have instant recall of a name and  face, particulalry if I only see them intermittently