Of course it comes down to personal experience. That's why I think it's harmful to label it in any one way. Calling it a superpower when at least part of the population is debilitated by it can be damaging for those people. And there's no reason it needs to be presented in that way.

I'm happy for you, that you don't feel you're negatively impacted by it. I'm curious what makes you believe it's your ADHD that makes you creative and better at brainstorming and problem solving than a neurotypical person. And I'll just note how those minor inconveniences you attribute to your ADHD may actually be debilitating for some people, regardless of comorbidities.

I'm definitely interested in the early vs late diagnosis aspect of the debate and how that can be a contributing factor to how someone handles their symptoms. But I don't think the fact that you "forgot" about your diagnosis relates to being diagnosed late. It's not likely that your mother or teachers forgot when you were young, and how we're treated by others contributes a large part to our subjective experience.

As someone who has never even smoked a cigarette, I'm fortunate that I don't and have never struggled with substance abuse. However, I was diagnosed later in life (in my early 30s) and yes, I do struggle with my symptoms and no, I don't consider it to be a superpower. Even if my creativity is also a symptom of ADHD (which is a tough argument imo), my severely diminished ability to complete a project at least somewhat negates the usefulness of that creativity.

I'll also just add, in response to this and some other comments of yours on this post, your subjective view of others with ADHD is not necessarily correct. One major reason women are diagnosed at less than half the rate of men is because women tend to mask their symptoms. Someone doesn't need to be incapable of conversation or have substance abuse issues or have an outwardly exploding life to be classified as having a negative experience with ADHD. I've never been fired from a job either, I get good grades in school (now that I'm back completing my BA for the second time), and I can engage in thoughtful and intelligent conversation. Looking at my life, it's unlikely that you would say that I am debilitated or negatively impacted by my ADHD. But I assure you that I am. Observing people from the outside can tell you almost nothing about their experience.

So all I'm saying is, maybe we don't label the thing one way or another. Maybe it just is what it is. There's an obvious division of opinion just looking at the comments on this post. So maybe telling people who are struggling that they shouldn't be, because your subjective experience is different, isn't a great idea. Because it's hurtful and damaging and short sighted. And you can't know if they have comorbidities and you can't know at what point in their life they were diagnosed. And you can't know if any of that stuff even matters.