Pamela Pescosolido

Thank you, Lara, for sharing this. I’m still in the relatively early stages of learning about multisensory aphantasia (I cannot visualize, recall the feelings of touch, or “hear” others’ voices (except for songs, for some reason!)). I also have extremely poor autobiographical memory. But the more I read other people’s stories and experiences, the less I feel “less than” in this way. Though I did have a weird experience recently in a memoir writing class (my memoir would be limited due to my lack of childhood memories): when I tried to explain aphantasia in a discussion group, I got the usual responses of “What? I didn’t know that was a thing!). But the teacher of the class very much viewed the condition of aphantasia as a disability of some sort, asking when I was diagnosed, what treatments were available, and more. I told her “It’s not a disease. I don’t need treatment. I simply think differently than you.” She questioned whether I could write a memoir without visual memories of my past (I, too, wonder this), but with such a tone and sense of disbelief that I dropped the class.

Thank you for this. I am a writer, too. I find the genre I really can’t work too well in is an extensive memoir as I have so few memories of my younger days. I understand this lack of biographical memory is related to aphantasia. But when writing fiction, I do as you do, fully imagine scenes in words since I cannot visualize them.