Kiwi mum reveals 'I CAN'T RECOGNISE MY OWN KIDS!'

Port Waikato flight attendant Lulu suffers from a rare condition known as face blindness

- Hayley McLarin

Nose shape, neight, mannerisms, voice... If Lulu Rose can't immediately recognise her family members, she can always rely on physical features to prompt her.

But the Port Waikto flight attendant doesn't suffer from memory loss - she has a rare condition called prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, which means she can't identify faces. Not even those of her husband or children.

"When my husband Gary and I go out together, I need to memorise what he's wearing so I can find him if we become separated," she confesses. “If there's more than one man wearing the same-coloured polo shirt, I'll look at their shoes - my husband always has nice shoes on, not trainers." But it's not a fail-safe method. Many years ago, Lulu was genuinely scared that there was an intruder in her house, only to discover it was her then-partner, who had simply shaved off his moustache! Yet she didn't think to seek a diagnosis, even when people accused her of being aloof or rude for not recognising them.

Had Lulu been older, she may have worried it was early-onset dementia, but she simply didn't realise she was different until 12 years ago, when she was nearing 40.

"I was channel-hopping and happened across this documentary that showed a man saying he hated standing at the airport waiting to pick up his wife because he could never pick her out,” recalls Lulu.