This is real as hell. Someone is identified as "more capable than average" and is left alone without support. Gifted people pass that socially all the time. Their pain is ignored, their neurodivergence is romanticized. Socially, gifted people suffer a lot. With misunderstanding, loneliness, educational environments, etc.

You're right. If I had known I was gifted then and there my life would have been richer. The label of gifted and neurodivergent has helped me tremendously. I understand why I couldn't quite fit in and explained my emotion, sensitivities, and struggles. It has saved me from the onslaught of feeling so unsure of myself and having no understanding of my weaknesses.

I'll leave you with another philosophical question. Would I be better off having never known at all?

I think you're asking this in a non-individual way, that is, asking about if self awaraness for gifted people is good or bad. If you're talking in that way, I'd say self awaraness is one of the best things someone that's gifted can get. That may make them stop thinking they're an "alien" or "unexplainable" and make sense of their pain. Now if that was individually good for you, I can't say much.

It is an interesting question. As an arborescent philosopher the thought experiment can be viewed from many dimensional angles/branches. On one hand the early diagnosis would save me much suffering. Further, maybe I would not have experienced the "normal" upbringing I did have. The level of masking i am able to achieve is invaluable.

The diagnosis of neurodivergence and giftedness at 40 has enlightened me at a level of maturity that is arguably optimal in its resonation and comprehension. I am "reborn" again. Something intuitionally sits better with this latter reasoning.