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On social media, English teacher Jak Kurdi often shares his love of books and writing. Growing up in a household that prioritised reading, he could vividly picture the worlds on the page, his imagination carrying him into each scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember as a kid having a very, very vivid imagination,\u201d says Kurdi, 28, who teaches at Wilson Middle School in Plano, in the US state of Texas. \u201cI was an avid reader, and then slowly I started to realise that, I think in my adulthood, I\u2019ve lost it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He later learned that the change was likely linked to head injuries he sustained in car accidents and while on his college\u2019s equestrian team.<\/p>\n
Kurdi is among a small group of people worldwide with a condition called aphantasia, or the inability to recreate mental pictures in the mind\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n
Anywhere from 1 to 4 per cent of people are estimated to have aphantasia, which is typically present at birth or, more rarely, acquired later in life because of medical conditions or head injuries, as in Kurdi\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
Aphantasia was first described more than a century ago, but the term has only gained wider recognition in the past decade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n