[prismatix]

I, too, never really saw it as a handicap. However, looking back on my education I think I could argue that it was slightly a disadvantage.

I constantly got feedback on essays, "show -- don't tell". I remember a unit in school where they made us close our eyes while they told us a story and we had to visualize being in the story. I didn't realize that other kids didn't think the same way as me, so I just remember feeling like these exercises were pointless.

In a recent interview, I was collaborating with my interviewer who was visually imagining things in his head and explaining them to me. The interview was going rarher poorly and, once I explained that I didnt have the ability to visualize things and needed to write it down on paper, our conversation shifted and the interview went phenomenally better.

Being more open about my aphantasia has actually helped significantly, and I wish I had known about it as a kid.