Our story
Started by someone who knows what it's like
The Aphantasia Foundation was founded by someone with aphantasia, for people across the aphantasia spectrum. We exist because for too long, aphantasia went unnamed, unrecognised, and unsupported.
How we began
Aphantasia describes a spectrum, from a reduced ability to picture things in the mind's eye through to none at all. An estimated 1–4% of people sit somewhere on it. For most of history, people with aphantasia had no word for their experience, and many spent decades assuming everyone thought the same way they did.
When the term 'aphantasia' was coined in 2015, people around the world finally had a name for something they had always known but never been able to describe. Online communities formed quickly, and many people described a deep sense of relief at finally having a name for it.
The Aphantasia Foundation grew from that moment of recognition, and from its founder's own experience of aphantasia. We are a UK charitable association working to ensure that no one with aphantasia has to wait decades to understand themselves, and that the professionals around them understand it too.
What we stand for
Awareness
We work to make aphantasia a household word, so that teachers, doctors, therapists, and employers understand what it means and how to support people who experience it.
Research
As we grow, we want to partner with academic institutions and support research into aphantasia: its prevalence, its relationship to memory and emotion, and its implications for learning.
Community
We want people with aphantasia to be able to share experiences, find solidarity, and know they are not alone. Their lived experience shapes our work with professionals, and the two go hand in hand.
Advocacy
We advocate for recognition of aphantasia in educational and clinical settings, and work to ensure that people with aphantasia receive appropriate support.
Our charity status
The Aphantasia Foundation is an unincorporated charitable association in England and Wales. We operate as a charity under UK law, with a formal constitution, and we plan to register with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) once we've built the team and track record to do it properly. Our governance documents are available on request.
- Legal structure
- Unincorporated charitable association, working toward CIO registration
- Jurisdiction
- England and Wales
- Charitable objects
- Advancement of health and education in relation to aphantasia
- Transparency
- Accounts and governance documents available on request
Our trustees
The Foundation is governed by trustees who give their time voluntarily. We're currently growing our board, and we'd especially like to hear from people with expertise in research, education, medicine or charity governance, as well as lived experience of aphantasia.
Daniel Measor
Founder and Chair
Daniel founded The Aphantasia Foundation after discovering his own aphantasia at university. He writes from lived experience, and works to improve the lives of people with aphantasia.
Trustee name
Treasurer
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Trustee
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Get in touch
We welcome enquiries from researchers, journalists, educators, healthcare professionals, and anyone who wants to learn more about aphantasia or support our work.
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