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Embodied

Faceblindness & A Journey To Rediscover Your Brain Midlife

By Gabriela Glueck,
Anita Rao, Amanda Magnus, Wilson Sayre
Published June 5, 2026 at 1:01 PM EDT
The logo for Embodied, which features a person with brown skin wearing yellow pants, a white shirt and white glasses pulling back a starry curtain of the silhouette of a person that is roughly twice as large as the person in yellow pants. The word "Embodied" is at the top with the WUNC logo directly underneath it and the PRX logo in the bottom righthand corner of the illustration. All of the text is in white, and the background of the illustration is light blue.

When a journalist discovers that for the last 39 years of her life she’s had a cognitive disorder that prevents her from recognizing faces, she rethinks her entire identity, sense of self and relationships.

For decades, Sadie Dingfelder would be greeted familiarly by people on the street and at the grocery store…and had no idea who they were. At 39, she found an explanation for why this happened so often to her: a cognitive disorder known as faceblindness.

Sadie talks with host Anita Rao about how that discovery (and a few others) made her rewrite her past and come to a fundamentally new understanding of her brain.

Plus, her husband Steve joins the conversation to talk about how Sadie’s cognitive diagnoses shape their life together.

Sadie is a science journalist and author of “Do I Know You? A Faceblind Reporter’s Journey into the Science of Sight, Memory and Imagination.”

Read the transcript

Embodied
Gabriela Glueck
Gabriela Glueck is a producer for Embodied, a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, health and relationships.
See stories by Gabriela Glueck
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is an award-winning journalist, host, creator, and executive editor of "Embodied," a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships & health.
See stories by Anita Rao
Amanda Magnus
Amanda Magnus is the executive producer of Embodied, a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships and health. She has also worked on other WUNC shows including Tested and CREEP.
See stories by Amanda Magnus
Wilson Sayre
Wilson Sayre is WUNC's Director of Digital Content leading our podcasting strategy and initiatives. She has worn many hats in the audio world as an editor, producer, consultant and team lead. Wilson was Managing Producer at Pushkin (previously Transmitter Media) where she helped launch shows like Am I Normal, the TED Interview and The Heist. Before that, she served as Executive Producer at Capitol Broadcasting Company and lead reporter for The City podcast from USA Today. Prior to that, she covered social safety net programs at WLRN, Miami's NPR member station. There, she founded the station's youth radio program. Wilson's work has been recognized by the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize and national Edward R. Murrow Awards. Wilson grew up in North Carolina and enjoys playing banjo and eating chocolate, usually not at the same time.
See stories by Wilson Sayre