I never had an ADD problem or an autism diagnosis, but I was reading at a college level by age 10. An old-school IQ test at that age confirmed I was at that level across the board and I was steered into gifted classes, etc. So I have a lot of that pattern recognition capability without the downside.

The point being that I could have been one of those lone-wolf Randian superheroes, but I figured out a very long time ago that we are all in this together. I said "No, thank you." when my boss asked me if I would like to go to his medical school. I've always gracefully declined offers to join management at various engineering jobs. And one of the most satisfying jobs I ever did involved a team of about 60 people, all excellent software or digital design engineers.

My wife wishes I could get a real job.

That, my friend, is truly profound. Both of my sons are, objectively, brilliant, but, sadly, marginally functional in many respects. Son #1 is married to a similarly brilliant individual who is a substantially more successful Asperger sufferer. Son #2 has profound social anxiety (won't go shipping unless the is a self~ checkout)., is employed in in his field, but lives at home. Outwardly, he is completely functional, engaging (hilarious), successful and very self- aware. (Actually, they both are. )

I don't know if you meant what I discovered was profound or if what Hamish said was profound*, but if that was for me:

Oh trust me, in real life I am still a very weird guy, as far as social klutz tendencies go. Oh sure, I am much more outgoing and social than I was as a kid and occasionally I accidentally wind up working the room with style and grace, only to suddenly turn full-on goon shortly after. Not always, but enough that I can feel my cheeks burning.

It's like the guy who tries to show off being cool and winds up on YouTube as a comedy fail. Thank God YouTube did not exist in the 70's, 80's and 90's.

Where I think I found "profound" is that in the past, when my awkwardness would pile up, I would withdraw into depression instead, and to the outside world that came off as extreme arrogance, when in reality it was a defense mechanism, but I apparently came off as rude, self absorbed and arrogant.

I was able to release myself from most of that, with the result being that people seem to come away with the impression that I am a kind person instead. After psychedelics, I could suddenly read what was in people's hearts a lot better and although I still sometimes do miss social cues that most people clue into immediately, for the most part I know I am much better at that than I used to be, because that used to be a big fat zero in the past.

And yes, I agree that sometimes, "The trick is to do stupid things long enough to get good at it, but not long enough to get killed doing it."
---Or HURT someone else while doing it.

(* I may have just missed another cue?)